Signs and Symptoms of HIV Infection

During the early and middle stages of HIV infection, most  people have no symptoms at all. Immediately after infection, some people may develop mild, temporary flu-like symptoms or persistent swollen glands (lymph nodes).

As the infection progresses, those infected may begin to develop more symptoms and to experience feelings of decreased energy. These subtle symptoms may be easily attributed to systemic infections, such as tuberculosis, or to other conditions common to people living in poverty in low-resource settings.

Some of the symptoms that people with HIV may have include:

• An unexplained loss of weight lasting at least one month
• Diarrhea lasting for several weeks
• A white coating on the tongue (thrush/oral candidiasis)
• Enlarged or sore glands (lymph nodes) in the neck, armpits, and/or groin, as well as generalized swollen glands
• A cough that persists for more than one month
• Persistent fever and/or night sweats
• In women, persistent vaginal candidiasis (yeast infection)

Signs and symptoms of AIDS

AIDS is late-stage HIV infection. In addition to the signs and symptoms of HIV infection described above, a person with AIDS generally loses weight (wasting syndrome) and becomes ill with opportunistic infections such as chronic cryptosporida diarrhea, cytomegalovirus eye infection, mycobacterium avium complex, pneumocystis pneumonia, and toxoplasmosis.  Other AIDS-associated conditions include invasive cervical cancer, Kaposi’s sarcoma, and lymphoma.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines someone as having AIDS if he or she has any one of a number of conditions indicating severe immunosuppression, or HIV infection in an individual with a CD4 (T-cell) count less than 200 cells per microliter (less than half of what is considered to be the bottom of the normal range).

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