Late Symptoms of AIDS

Once a person becomes infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the road toward developing acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is usually a long one. Depending on when treatment begins, AIDS could take upward of a decade to develop. There are specific symptoms, however, that accompany the late stages of the disease.

Opportunistic Infections

• Infections, such as pneumonia, do not usually present major health concerns in the general population, but AIDS patients have compromised immune systems that give the infections an opportunity to flourish. Any opportunistic infection in an HIV-positive person is considered an "AIDS-defining illness."

Infection Symptoms

• Later-stage AIDS patients often experience soaking night sweats, shaking chills, headaches, fevers over 100 degrees F, fatigue, headaches and chronic diarrhea. Candidiasis, or white spots/lesions in the mouth, are common, as well as blurred and distorted vision, persistent fatigue and significant weight loss.

Pneumocystis Carinii Pneumonia

• When this type of pneumonia is first developed in an AIDS patient, life expectancy is averaged at two years by most doctors. Patients can contract it a second time in the later stages of AIDS, and this lowers their life expectancy by half.

Nervous System

• According to a UCLA/University of Pittsburgh study reported in "ScienceDaily," 40 percent of AIDS patients eventually become brain-impaired or suffer nerve damage as the syndrome takes hold. Patients with nervous system damage experience changes in their behavior, difficulty forming thoughts and difficulty coordinating balance.

Cancers

• A majority of AIDS patients in the latest stages of the syndrome develop cancers, most often Kaposi's sarcoma, lymphoma, and cervical cancer in women. Fortunately, improved treatments as of late have been able to reduce the impacts of these illnesses for many AIDS patients.