What happens when someone has HIV?

What happens when someone has HIV?

Becoming HIV positive

Most people who become infected with HIV do not notice that they have been infected. A few weeks after infection, the body's immune system reacts to the virus by producing antibodies. Some people with HIV have a short 'seroconversion' illness at the time these antibodies are created. The likely symptoms are the normal response to many other infections, and may include a sore throat, a fever or a rash.

Asymptomatic infection

The infected person may have no further outward signs or symptoms for many months or years. This is called asymptomatic infection.

Some people with asymptomatic infection have swollen lymph nodes, but this is not a sign of immune system damage. Nor are colds or flu: people with HIV do not get colds more often than other people. People who have HIV and feel completely well may have signs of immune damage detectable in laboratory tests on their blood.

Symptomatic infection

In time, immune damage may become more severe, though the increasing use of combination therapy may result in more people with HIV remaining well for longer. We do not know whether every person with HIV will eventually become ill.

Not all opportunistic infections are part of the AIDS definition, so a person with HIV may be quite ill but not have AIDS.

An AIDS diagnosis

AIDS itself does not have symptoms and there is no test for AIDS. The doctor will look for the specific illness causing the person's symptoms. If they are caused by one of the AIDS-defining illnesses, and if the patient has HIV, then he or she is said to have AIDS.

Examples of illnesses which will result in an AIDS diagnosis, if HIV is present:

• pneumocistis carinii pneumonia (PCP), a rare form of pneumonia common in people with HIV
• cytomegalovirus (CMV), a member of the herpes family which can cause blindness and serious gastrointestinal, brain and lung problems in people with HIV

Someone with AIDS is likely to enjoy periods of comparatively good health between bouts of serious illness. Some people have lived for several years with an AIDS diagnosis.

People taking combination therapy successfully will be less likely to develop AIDS-defining illnesses.