Signs and symptoms

There are three main stages of HIV infection: acute infection, clinical latency and AIDS.

Acute infection:-

The initial period following the contraction of HIV is called acute HIV, primary HIV or acute retroviral syndrom. Many individuals develop an influenza-like illness or a mononucleosis-like illness 2–4 weeks post exposure while others have no significant symptoms.Symptoms occur in 40–90% of the cases and most commonly include fever, large tender lymph nodes, throat inflammation, a rash, headache, and/or sores of the mouth and genitals. The rash, which occurs in 20–50% of cases, presents itself on the trunk and is classically maculopapular.Some people also develop opportunistic infections at this stage.Gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting or diarrhea may occur, as may neurological symptoms of peripheral neuropathy or Guillain-Brre syndrome. The duration of the symptoms varies, but is usually one or two weeks.^[

Due to their nonspecific character, these symptoms are not often recognized as signs of HIV infection. Even cases that do get seen by a family doctor or a hospital are often misdiagnosed as one of the many common infectious diseases with overlapping symptoms. Thus, it is recommended that HIV be considered in patients presenting an unexplained fever who may have risk factors for the infection.

Clinical latency:-

The initial symptoms are followed by a stage called clinical latency, asymptomatic HIV, or chronic HIV. Without treatment, this second stage of the natural history of HIV infection can last from about three years to over 20 years .While typically there are few or no symptoms at first, near the end of this stage many people experience fever, weight loss, gastrointestinal problems and muscle pains.Between 50 and 70% of people also develop persistent generalized lymphadenopathy, characterized by unexplained, non-painful enlargement of more than one group of lymph nodes  for over three to six months.

Although most HIV-1 infected individuals have a detectable viral load and in the absence of treatment will eventually progress to AIDS.