What Symptoms Of Hiv And Aids

Can Hiv Be Prevented Or Avoided

The best way to prevent HIV is to not have sex with a person who has HIV, or share a needle with a person who has HIV. However, there is also a medicine called PrEP that people can take before coming into contact with HIV that can prevent them from getting an HIV infection.

PrEP stands for pre-exposure prophylaxis. It is for people who are at long-term risk of getting HIV either through sexual activity or by injecting drugs. If youre taking PrEP and come into contact with HIV, the medicine makes it difficult for HIV to develop inside your body.

Other ways to prevent HIV include:

• When you have sex, practice safer sex by using a condom. The best condom is a male latex condom. A female condom is not as effective but does offer some protection.
• Do not share needles and syringes.
• Never let someone elses blood, semen, urine, vaginal fluid, or feces get into your anus, vagina, or mouth.

Early Signs And Symptoms Of Hiv In Men

Early symptoms of HIV in men are often vague and unspecific.

In men, initial HIV symptoms are typically unspecific. Early symptoms are usually bearable and frequently mistaken for flu or another mild condition. People may easily underestimate them or mistake them for minor health conditions.

Men can experience flu-like symptoms some days to weeks after contracting the virus, which may include:

• pain in the joints
• swollen lymph nodes

Men may undervalue initial symptoms and put off seeing a doctor until the symptoms worsen, by which time the infection might have advanced.

The fact that some men do not seek timely treatment may be why the virus affects men more severely than women.

Although scientists and researchers have made significant progress in the prevention and treatment of HIV over the last decades, it remains a serious health problem in most countries around the world.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , in 2016, an estimated 39,782 people were diagnosed with HIV in the U.S.

Although the number of new diagnoses fell by 5 percent between 2011 and 2015, there were still around 1.1 million people in the U.S. living with HIV in 2015.

A higher number of men than women are living with the virus. By the end of 2010,

In 2016, 44 percent of new HIV diagnoses were among African Americans, compared with 26 percent among white people and 25 percent among Hispanics and Latinos.

What Are The Signs & Symptoms Of Hiv And Aids

When first infected with HIV, a person may have:

• fever

• increased number of infections
• infections that are more severe than is typical

Without treatment, HIV can lead to a very weakened immune system and progress to AIDS. Illnesses that happen in AIDS are called “AIDS-defining conditions.”

AIDS-defining conditions include:

• very fast and severe weight loss
• a lung infection called pneumocystis pneumonia
• Kaposi sarcoma
• lymphoma

Don’t Miss: Can You Gain Weight With Hiv

A Sexually Transmitted Infection

Katie Salerno/Flickr Creative Commons

Contracting other sexually transmitted diseases can significantly increase the risk of getting HIV. For instance, some STDs like syphilis and herpes cause skin lesions that make it easier for HIV to enter the body.

STDs may also cause inflammation, which is something that is triggered by the body’s immune system. HIV preferentially infects defensive white blood cells, so when there are more of them around, it’s easier to contract HIV.

Having an STD like gonorrhea or syphilis means that you’ve engaged in unprotected sex, a key risk factor for HIV. So if you have been diagnosed with an STD, talk to your healthcare provider about how you can reduce your HIV risk.

How Often Should A Man Get Tested

Sexually active men should get routine tests for HIV.

Men who are sexually active should get tested for HIV at least once in their lifetime as part of their routine health care.

The CDC recommend that everyone between the ages of should take an HIV test.

The CDC also recommend that people with specific risk factors should take a test at least once a year . This recommendation applies to gay and bisexual men, and men who have sex with men, and users of injectable drugs.

Besides these formal recommendations, everyone who may have been exposed to HIV or had sex without a condom should also take a test.

Also Check: Can Cbc Test Detect Hiv

Stage : The Asymptomatic Stage

Once a person has been through the acute primary infection stage and seroconversion process, they can often start to feel better. In fact, HIV may not cause any other symptoms for up to 10 or even 15 years .

However, the virus will still be active, infecting new cells and making copies of itself. HIV can still be passed on during this stage. If left untreated, over time, HIV infection will cause severe damage to the immune system.

What Is Hiv And Aids

HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus, which is the virus that causes HIV infection. The abbreviation HIV can refer to the virus or to HIV infection.

AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. AIDS is the most advanced stage of HIV infection.

HIV attacks and destroys the infection-fighting CD4 cells of the immune system. The loss of CD4 cells makes it difficult for the body to fight off infections and certain cancers. Without treatment, HIV can gradually destroy the immune system and HIV infection advances to AIDS.

Also Check: How Often Should You Get Tested For Hiv

How Is Hiv/aids Transmitted

What Is An Std

STDs is an abbreviation for Sexually Transmitted Diseases. The same diseases can be considered as Sexually Transmitted Infections which are abbreviated as STIs. STDs or STIs are diseases or infections transmitted through sexual contact, developed by shared bacteria, viruses, or parasites.

A disease or an infection related to the sexual transmission could be born then and there itself during sex between two uninfected persons who are subjected to earlier sex with other persons. In another way, the infected person may share a virus or parasite with an uninfected person during a sexual course. It is more of an uncertain infection, most of the STDs require a medical diagnosis.

Don’t Miss: Who Is Most Likely To Contract Hiv

What Are Medications And Treatment Options For Hiv/aids

Many drugs have become available to fight both the HIV infection and its associated infections and cancers. These drugs have been called highly active antiretroviral therapy . More commonly, they are simply referred to as ART. Although these medications do not cure HIV/AIDS, antiretrovirals have greatly reduced HIV-related complications and deaths.

Therapy is initiated and individualized under the supervision of a physician who is an expert in the care of HIV-infected patients. A combination of at least three ART drugs is needed to suppress the virus from replicating and boost the immune system. How these drugs are combined depends on the most current treatment guidelines, individual patient preferences, other medical conditions, past treatment history, and any resistance mutations in the individual’s virus. Resistance mutations may already be present at the time of infection, thus most clinicians will test the patient’s virus for resistance mutations prior to starting or changing a regimen.

The earliest class of highly active antiretroviral therapy, reverse transcriptase inhibitor drugs, inhibit the ability of the virus to make copies of itself. The following are examples:

Older PIs no longer commonly used due to pill burden and side effects include lopinavir and ritonavir combination , saquinavir , indinavir sulphate , fosamprenavir , tipranavir , and nelfinavir .

How Do People Get Hiv

Most young children who have HIV got it before they were born or shortly after birth.

Older people can get HIV through:

• sex
• sharing needles for injecting drugs or tattooing
• getting stuck with a needle with an infected persons blood on it

HIV is NOT spread through:

• pee, poop, spit, throw-up, or sweat
• coughing or sneezing
• sharing eating utensils or drinking glasses

Also Check: Can You Get Hiv From Protected Sex

What Conditions Are Considered To Be Opportunistic

Some of the most common of these OIs/cancers among HIV-positive people include:

Cancer: The types of cancers that are you are more likely to get if you have AIDs include lymphoma, Kaposis sarcoma, invasive cervical cancer, anal cancer, liver cancer, and cancers of the mouth, throat and lungs.

Candidiasis : This condition is caused by Candida fungus. It can happen in the skin, nails and mucous membranes throughout the body, such as the mouth or the vagina. The cases can be troublesome, but thrush is especially dangerous when it affects the esophagus or parts of the respiratory system .

Pneumonia: This respiratory condition is most commonly caused by _Pneumocystis jirovecii and the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae._

Salmonella: This infection is spread through contaminated food and water. It causes diarrhea, vomiting and nausea.

Toxoplasmosis: This disease is caused by a parasites that live in cats and rodents and other warm-blooded animals. The infection is spread through the feces. Toxoplasmosis can cause severe problems in the lungs, heart, brain and other organs. If you have a cat, wear gloves to change the litter and be thorough in washing your hands.

What You Can Do To Reduce Stigma

You can help reduce stigma by being respectful, compassionate and non-judgemental. Model this behaviour for others when you witness stigmatizing behaviours.

When talking about HIV, certain terms can be stigmatizing. Be thoughtful about the words you use when discussing the topic.

Learn more about the facts of HIV. Treatment can lower the amount of virus in a person’s blood to a level that’s too low to be measured on a standard blood test. This means it’s undetectable.

People living with HIV on treatment who maintain an undetectable viral load have effectively no risk of transmitting HIV to their sexual partners.

Knowing and sharing these facts widely can help to reduce stigma. Share our Undetectable = Untransmittable infographic to help us raise awareness.

In addition, HIV is not transmitted through:

• healthy, unbroken skin

Don’t Miss: Does Hiv Show Up In Blood Work

Clinical Latency Stage Of Hiv Infection

The symptoms during ARS may last for a few weeks, according to the National Institutes of Health.

After this point, the infection progresses to the clinical latency stage, a period during which the virus reproduces at very low levels, but it is still active.

Also known as asymptomatic HIV infection or chronic HIV infection, the clinical latency stage typically causes no HIV-related symptoms.

For people who are not taking any anti-retroviral medication for their infection, the clinical latency stage lasts for 10 years, on average, but it may progress quicker.

ART, though, can keep the virus from growing and multiplying, prolonging the clinical latency state for several decades.

It’s important to note that people living with HIV in the clinical latency stage are contagious and can still transmit the virus to other people. But, as the CDC notes, people who take ART exactly as prescribed and maintain an undetectable viral load have effectively no risk of transmitting HIV to their HIV negative-partner through sex.

How Is Hiv/aids Diagnosed

Early HIV infection often causes no symptoms, and must be detected by testing a person’s blood for the presence of antibodiesdisease-fighting proteinsagainst HIV. These HIV antibodies generally do not reach levels high enough to detect by standard blood tests until 1 to 3 months following infection, and may take as long as 6 months. People exposed to HIV should be tested for HIV infection as soon as they think they may have been exposed to HIV.

When a person is highly likely to be infected with HIV and yet antibody tests are negative, a test for the presence of HIV itself in the blood is used. Repeat antibody testing at a later date, when antibodies to HIV are more likely to have developed, is often recommended.

Recommended Reading: Where Do I Get Tested For Hiv

What Are The Facts On Hiv And Aids

HIV is one of a group of viruses known as retroviruses. After getting into the body, the virus enters many different cells, incorporates its genes into the human DNA, and hijacks the cell to produce HIV virus. Most importantly, HIV attacks cells of the body’s immune system called CD4 or T-helper cells . These cells are destroyed by the infection. The body tries to keep up by making new T cells or trying to contain the virus, but eventually the HIV wins out and progressively destroys the body’s ability to fight infections and certain cancers. The virus structure has been studied extensively, and this ongoing research has helped scientists develop new treatments for HIV/AIDS. Although all HIV viruses are similar, small variations or mutations in the genetic material of the virus create drug-resistant viruses. Larger variations in the viral genes are found in different viral subtypes. Currently, HIV-1 is the predominant subtype that causes HIV/AIDS. HIV-2, another form of HIV, occurs almost exclusively in West Africa but has occasionally caused travel-related outbreaks elsewhere.

What Are The Symptoms Of Hiv

After the first month or so, HIV enters the clinical latency stage. This stage can last from a few years to a few decades.

Some people dont have any symptoms during this time, while others may have minimal or nonspecific symptoms. A nonspecific symptom is a symptom that doesnt pertain to one specific disease or condition.

These nonspecific symptoms may include:

• headaches and other aches and pains
• swollen lymph nodes
• recurrent oral or vaginal yeast infections
• pneumonia
• shingles

As with the early stage, HIV is still transferable during this time even without symptoms and can be transmitted to another person.

However, a person wont know they have HIV unless they get tested. If someone has these symptoms and thinks they may have been exposed to HIV, its important that they get tested.

HIV symptoms at this stage may come and go, or they may progress rapidly. This progression can be slowed substantially with treatment.

With the consistent use of this antiretroviral therapy, chronic HIV can last for decades and will likely not develop into AIDS, if treatment was started early enough.

The cause of the rash determines:

• how it looks
• how it can be treated depends on the cause

Read Also: How Long Should I Wait To Get Tested For Hiv

If I Am Pregnant And Have Hiv Will My Baby Also Have Hiv

Most women with HIV can protect their baby from becoming infected during pregnancy. Proper pre-natal treatment can reduce the risk that an HIV-positive mother will pass the virus to her child to less than 1 percent. The only way these special treatments can be provided is if the health care professionals know the mother is living with HIV. Treatment is most effective when started early in pregnancy. HIV-positive moms should not breastfeed their babies because HIV is sometimes passed this way.

Diagnosis In Men Vs Women

Doctors diagnose HIV in both men and women by testing a blood or saliva sample, although they could also test a urine sample. This test looks for antibodies produced by the person to fight the virus. The test typically takes around 3 to 12 weeks to detect antibodies.

Another test looks for HIV antigens, which are substances that the virus produces immediately after transmission. These antigens cause the immune system to activate. HIV produces the p24 antigen in the body even before antibodies develop.

Usually, both the antibody and the antigen tests are done in labs, but there are also home tests that people can take.

Home tests may require a small sample of blood or saliva, and their results are quickly available. If the test is positive, it is essential to confirm the results with a doctor. If the test is negative, a person should repeat it after a few months to confirm the results.

Recommended Reading: Can Hiv Be Transmitted Through Mosquito Bites

How Can I Keep From Getting Hiv

The best way to protect yourself is to avoid activities that put you at risk. There’s no way to tell by looking at someone if he or she has HIV. Always protect yourself. Use latex condoms whenever you have any type of sex .

• Don’t use condoms made from animal products.
• Use water-based lubricants .
• Never share needles to take drugs.
• Avoid getting drunk or high. Intoxicated people might be less likely to protect themselves.
• Consider getting testedit is really important to be aware of your HIV status.

If you are a healthcare worker, you are at a slightly higher risk of getting HIV from a needle-stick injury, skin contact with contaminated fluid or from human bites. You should follow universal precautions:

• Always wear protective equipment when dealing with blood and body fluids.
• Follow careful hand-washing guidelines when dealing with such fluids.
• Follow safe handling guidelines for needles and sharp instruments.
• Be aware of post-exposure policies at your workplace.

If you are in a relationship with a partner who has HIV, or you are at high risk for any other reason, consider using pre-exposure prophylaxis, commonly called PrEP. This means taking one of two medicines every day, emtricitabine-tenofovir or emtricitabine-tenofovir alafen .

If you are a person with HIV who is in a relationship with a person who is HIV-negative, you should also be on a medication regimen.