Main Symptoms of AIDS & How to Know if You Have the Disease

AIDS is the late stage of HIV infection and usually occurs within ten years or more after being infected with the virus, which will depend on whether the individual is being treated or not. Being the main symptoms of AIDS significant weight loss, dry cough, fever, and diarrhea that lasts more than a week.

Generally, contagion occurs through risky behavior, where there was intimate contact without a condom or changing needles, for example. The test to detect the virus should be done 30 to 90 days after the risk behavior, because before that period the test may not detect the presence of the virus in the blood. See more about:  How HIV is spread.

Main Signs and Symptoms of AIDS

Once the person is infected with the HIV virus, the disease goes to a latent period where it reproduces very slowly without presenting symptoms, this is destroying the cells of the immune system little by little, being in those people who they do not perform antiretroviral treatment, AIDS can arise after 8 to 10 years, and in those who do, it can take many years to appear.

So the signs and symptoms that may arise are:

1. Persistent fever;
2. Prolonged dry cough and sore throat;
3. Night sweats;
4. Swollen lymph nodes for more than 3 months;
5. Headache and difficulty concentrating;
6. Pain in the muscles and joints;
7. Tiredness, fatigue, and loss of energy;
8. Rapid weight loss;
9. Oral or genital candidiasis that is not cured;
10. Diarrhea for more than 1 month;
11. Nausea and vomiting;
12. Reddish, brown, or pink spots, and small red dots or skin wounds.

These symptoms usually arise when the HIV virus is present in large quantities in the body and the defense cells are presented in a very low number compared to a healthy adult individual. In addition to this, in this phase where the disease has symptoms, opportunistic diseases such as viral hepatitis, tuberculosis, pneumonia or toxoplasmosis generally arise, because the immune system is weakened.

But after 2 weeks after coming into contact with the HIV virus, the person may have symptoms that go unnoticed such as low fever and malaise. See a complete list of these first symptoms of HIV.

How to know if you are HIV Positive?

To know if you have been infected with the HIV virus, you must identify whether or not you had any risky behavior such as relationships without condoms or if you shared syringes with another person, being aware within 3 to 6 weeks of the appearance of symptoms such as fever, malaise, sore throat and dry cough. Learn the first symptoms of HIV in more detail here.

After 40 to 60 days of risky behavior, it is recommended to perform the blood test to find out if you are HIV positive or not, repeating the test 3 to 6 months later, because this way there may have been no symptoms been infected with the virus. See more about the HIV test.

How is the Treatment of AIDS 

AIDS is a disease that has no cure and therefore, its treatment has to be done throughout life, its main objective is to strengthen the immune system and fight the HIV virus, controlling and reducing its amount in the blood.

Start HIV treatment before AIDS manifests itself. This treatment can be performed with an antiviral cocktail with different medications such as Efavirenz, Lamivudine, and Viread, which are normally offered by the national health system for free, as well as the necessary tests to assess the progression of the disease and the burden of viral. Learn more about HIV / AIDS treatment.