One of the worst virus infection of these times is the infection of Human Immunodeficiency Virus or the HIV. If a person becomes infected by this virus, it is only a matter of time before the infection grows into full blown AIDS. It is important for everyone to be aware of the first symptoms of HIV infection.
These symptoms show any time after a few weeks or a few months of the person becoming HIV positive. During this period, the individual may catch flu or mononucleosis. Note that no clear results may be obtained even after the standard HIV antibody tests are administered to the individual during this time.
In most of the cases, these first symptoms start to occur within a span of 2 to 6 weeks after the instance of infection. The individual will also suffer acute retroviral syndrome during this time. Different first symptoms may be visible in different people. Most health care experts say that rashes or fever are the primary symptoms, particularly when both of them occur at the same time. Though it may just be a normal fever without any infection.
Among the people who have become infected with HIV, there are cases of loss of appetite, pain in the joints and fever. These symptoms may or may not be accompanied by any or all of the following- pain in the muscles, severe fatigue, con-stant diarrhea, swelling of lymph nodes, ulcers in the mouth or genitalia, vomiting and nausea. Cases of sore throat are also known to occur.
There have been cases where the infected person has shown absolutely no primary symptoms but such cases have been extraordinarily rare. Generally, the first symptoms do become visible in a few weeks. Then there are also some cases where primary symptoms are extraordinarily severe and cases where symptoms may be negligible. These symptoms tend to subside once the initial impact is over and the virus goes in the stage of dormancy. The infected person might seem to have fully recovered and no cause of concern is visible for the next 8-10 years.
It is extremely important that the infection of HIV be detected at its primary stages. If proper protective measures are not taken, the condition will rapidly deteriorate into AIDS. Plus the infected person becomes a carrier of HIV and spreads it to more people. Further, once AIDS raises its ugly head, the infected person falls victim to opportunistic infections including but not limited to pneumonia, tuberculosis, and toxoplasmosis.
All is not lost if HIV infection is detected while in primary stages. If any of these first symptoms have become visible in a person and the doctor has asked the person to get an HIV test, he or she must get the test done.
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