HIV appears in three stages. It starts with flu-like symptoms, and it can progress to severely damage the immune system if left untreated.
Here’s what you should know about the stages and symptoms of HIV and how to navigate testing and treatment.
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Stage 1: severe HIV
The first stage of HIV is the acute infection stage. It often has flu-like symptoms. However, not everyone will experience these symptoms and some HIV tests may show negative.
Most people experience these flu-like symptoms about two to six weeks after infection. These symptoms are a sign that the immune system is fighting the virus and it usually lasts for one to two weeks.
Some of the symptoms that the patient may face are: mouth sores, chills, fever, sore throat, fatigue, inflammation of the lymph nodes, muscle pain, joint pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, night sweats and a dry cough.
“Some of the most common early signs of HIV are high fever and a rash in the upper part of the body,” says Peter Gollick, professor of medicine at Michigan State University (MSU), College of Osteopathic Medicine, and director of the MSU Clinic for HIV and Hepatitis. Fatigue, sore throat, severe headache, muscle weakness. “
It is especially important to get tested at this stage of HIV because the viral load is very high, which means that the patient is highly contagious and can easily infect another person with the disease without knowing it.
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Stage 2: infection without symptoms
This stage comes after the acute infection stage and is usually called the chronic infection stage or the asymptomatic infection. At this stage of HIV, most of the pre-symptoms of the condition wear off, and the person may start to feel better.
This stage can last for up to 10 years or even more. But even though a person may not be showing symptoms at this point, the virus is still active and spreading.
At this point in the virus, a blood test will be able to determine how active the virus is and how much it is affecting your immune system. And a person at this stage is contagious as well. If not treated, the condition will continue to progress, damaging the immune system.
Stage 3: AIDS
In this stage, the virus progresses to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). When a person has AIDS, their immune system is seriously damaged. This is the most severe stage of HIV.
A person infected with HIV at this stage is also susceptible to infection and disease. The body will not be able to defend itself against infections, including viral infections such as shingles and bacterial infections, such as tuberculosis and pneumonia.
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People with AIDS have a very high level of the virus and are very contagious. Without treatment, at this stage the condition can be fatal and can be fatal.
Most people with AIDS are only likely to live for one to three years if they cannot get proper treatment.
Some of the common symptoms of AIDS include: fever, frequent coughing, weight loss, mouth sores, chronic diarrhea, extreme fatigue, swollen lymph nodes, and pneumonia.
And if someone has or suspects early signs of HIV, testing is the next step.
treatment:
HIV medication helps reduce the viral load in the body, or reduce the amount of HIV in the blood. HIV drugs work by blocking or changing the enzymes the virus uses to replicate itself.
Some of the treatment options approved by the Food and Drug Administration for HIV include:
Protease inhibitors: It blocks the protease enzyme the virus can use to replicate itself.
– Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs): They change the reverse transcriptase enzyme, which HIV needs to replicate.
– nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTI)NRTIs): These drugs work by inhibiting, rather than changing, the reverse transcriptase enzyme.
Fusion inhibitors: Fusion inhibitors work by preventing the virus from entering cells.
Integration inhibitors: They block the integration enzyme, which prevents the virus from replicating itself.
Correlation inhibitors: Link inhibitors work by binding to a protein on the surface of HIV. This prevents HIV from entering the cells.
Source: Business Insider
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