Symptoms

Symptoms of HIV

When first infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, some people have no symptoms. Others have flu-like symptoms within the first two to four weeks. Those symptoms during the acute stage may include:

• Fever
• Chills
• Night sweats
• Rash

People in the latent (dormant) stage may have no symptoms at all. The median length of time people can be in the dormant stage before developing AIDS is 7 to 10 years.

Symptoms in the final stage of HIV—acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)—will vary from patient to patient. Some typical symptoms include:

• Swollen lymph nodes
• Fatigue
• Weight loss
• Short-term memory loss
• Frequent yeast infections
• Persistent rashes
• One or more opportunistic infections, such as:
  • Lymphoma
  • Tuberculosis
  • Bacterial pneumonia
  • Valley fever
  • Candidiasis of the respiratory system and mucus membranes
  • Encephalitis (infection of the brain)
  • Herpes simplex virus
  • Kaposi’s sarcoma on the skin and internal organs
  • Diarrhea from several bacteria and parasites