Stages of HIV infection

However seroconversaion can take anything from few weeks to three month.

Some people have a short illness soon after they become infected. Common symptoms include a fever lasting more than a few days, aching limbs, a blotchy red rash, headache, diarrhoea and mouth ulcers.

In some people this illness is so mild that it passes without being noticed. Some people mistake it for the flu, but for some people it is more severe and they may need to see a doctor. However, because the symptoms are similar to symptoms of many other conditions, HIV might not be diagnosed at the time.

This stage of HIV infection is sometimes called primary or acute HIV infection.

Most people who become infected with HIV do not know this has happened at the time.

This is the period when someone with HIV is at their most infectious and there is a greater risk of passing on HIV.
[Definition of infectious: ability to pass on HIV to another person].

HIV infection without symptoms

Once seroconversion is over, most people feel fine and don’t experience any symptoms. This is often called the asymptomatic stage and it can last for several years.

But just because you feel well at this stage doesn't mean HIV isn't doing anything. The virus is still active, infecting new cells, making copies of itself and damaging your immune systems’s ability to fight illness.

During this stage, doctors will monitor what HIV is doing to your immune system. They can advise you whether you need to think about starting to take HIV treatment. Find out more about what's happening inside you.

HIV infection with symptoms

The longer you live with HIV without treatment, the greater your risk of developing symptoms. These can be caused by opportunistic infections that take advantage of your weakened immune system, certain cancers or the direct effects of HIV on the body.

When someone gets ill in one of these ways, they are said to have symptomatic HIV.

The longer someone lives with HIV without treatment, the greater their risk of developing symptoms. If you start HIV treatment before you develop symptoms and you don’t experience problems with it, you may never have any symptoms at all.

Late-stage HIV infection

If HIV has a chance to cause a lot of damage to your immune system, you may become ill from certain very serious infections and cancers. At this stage you may be given a diagnosis of AIDS.

But many people have had an illness which has led to them being diagnosed with AIDS, and then completely recovered and lived for many years, even decades, in very good health.

You cannot catch AIDS and there is no AIDS test.

AIDS is not considered a disease, but a syndrome – a collection of different signs and symptoms, all caused by the same virus, HIV. An AIDS diagnosis is usually based on the presence of certain illnesses.

Many people never experience late-stage HIV infection. It depends on a range of factors, including how well you respond to treatment and on lifestyle factors that influence your health, such as diet, exercise and smoking.