How Do People Know They Have HIV?

How Do People Know They Have HIV?

Once a person's blood lacks the number of CD4 cells required to fight infections, or the person has signs of specific illnesses or diseases that occur in people with HIV infection, doctors make a diagnosis of AIDS.

Severe symptoms of HIV infection and AIDS may not appear for 10 years. And for years leading up to that, a person may not have symptoms of AIDS. The amount of time it takes for symptoms of AIDS to appear varies from person to person. Some people may feel and look healthy for years while they are infected with HIV. It is still possible to infect others with HIV, even if the person with the virus has absolutely no symptoms. You cannot tell simply by looking at someone whether he or she is infected.

When a person's immune system is overwhelmed by AIDS, the symptoms can include:

• extreme weakness or fatigue
• rapid weight loss
• frequent fevers that last for several weeks with no explanation
• heavy sweating at night
• swollen lymph glands
• minor infections that cause skin rashes and mouth, genital, and anal sores
• white spots in the mouth or throat
• chronic diarrhea
• a cough that won't go away
• trouble remembering things

Girls may also experience severe vaginal yeast infections that don't respond to usual treatment, as well as pelvic inflammatory disease (PID).