Once an individual acquires HIV, the symptoms are not immediate. Most people start to show symptoms of the infection after a lag period of 1-6 months. The symptoms of AIDS depend on what phase the infection is in.
During the early stage one may have flu like syndromes. Fever, headaches, sore throat, general malaise, tiredness, swollen neck glands and maybe a skin rash may be evident in the early period, but these are not specific symptoms. One thing to remember is that even when one does not have symptoms, AIDS can still be transmitted to others.
As the infection progresses and the virus continues to multiply, other symptoms start to appears such as
- Swollen glands in the neck, groin or under the arm pit
- Diarrhea which is frequent
- Weight loss and no appetite
- Low grade fever
- Dry cough and shortness of breath
As the virus continues to destroy white cells which provide immunity, more symptoms appear like: Headaches, blurred vision, white spots on the tongue, weight loss, soaking night sweats, chronic diarrhea and difficulty gaining weight.
The only sure way to know if one has AIDS is to have a blood test. Unfortunately, the HIV tests are not very accurate soon after the infection. In most cases, the antibodies take 2-6 months to develop and the diagnosis can only definitely be made after 2-4 months. Today, many rapid tests for making the diagnosis of HIV are available. While there are many home HIV tests, only one is approved by the FDA- this is the home access HIV -1 test marketed by home access health.
Once a preliminary diagnosis of HIV has been made, you need to get another test to check the viral load. Studies show that people with high viral loads generally do much poor than those with low viral loads. Viral load tests are also used to determine when to start or change your treatment