What Symptoms Signal The Onset Of AIDS?

An HIV-infected person receives an AIDS diagnosis when he or she has:

• A CD4+ T cell count of less than 200, and/or
• At least one of more than two dozen opportunistic infections and conditions

In the United States, the most common AIDS-defining condition in both women and men is a lung infection called Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, abbreviated PCP.

Other AIDS-defining conditions include severe body wasting and Candida infection of the esophagus, windpipe, or lungs.