Chapter 3: What is AIDS? - HIV symptoms - AIDS symtoms - free AIDS book

17 Books by Futurist Keynote Speaker / Author - The Truth about AIDS - free books on HIV

The Truth About AIDS - free book

• Introduction - the truth about AIDS
• Chapter 1: The Extent of the AIDS Nightmare
• Chapter 2: What's so Special about an AIDS / HIV Virus?
• Chapter 3: When Cells Start to Die
• Chapter 4: How People Become Infected by HIV
• Chapter 5: Questions People Ask about AIDS / HIV and a Christian response / church programmes
• Chapter 6: Condoms Are Unsafe
• Chapter 7: Moral Dilemas in AIDS / HIV work
• Chapter 8: Wrath or Reaping? Is AIDS the wrath of God? Is AIDS the anger of God?
• Chapter 9: Some Life and Death Issues
• Chapter 10: When Church Members Need Help about AIDS
• Chapter 11: Others Need Help about AIDS Too
• Chapter 12: Saving Lives - preventing HIV infection
• Chapter 13: Needle and Condom Distribution to stop HIV spread?
• Chapter 14: Special AIDS / HIV Issues in Africa and Asia
• Chapter 15: A Ten Point Plan for the Government
• Chapter 16: A Global Christian Challenge and a Christian Response to AIDS

When do AIDS symptoms start? The virus causing AIDS enters the blood and quickly penetrates certain white cells (called `CD4' cells or "T4 cells") in the body. As we saw in the last chapter, they program the white cells after which there is often little or no trace of the virus at all. This situation usually lasts for six to twelve weeks. During this time the person is free of symptoms and antibody tests are negative.

First signs of illness - symptoms of HIV

The first thing that happens after infection with HIV is that many people develop a flu-like illness. These HIV symptoms may be severe enough to look like glandular fever with swollen glands in the neck and armpits, tiredness, fever and night sweats. Some of those white cells are dying, virus is being released, and for the first time the body is working hard to make correct antibodies. At this stage the blood test for HIV will usually become positive as it picks up the tell-tale antibodies. This process of converting the blood from negative to positive is called `sero-conversion'. Most people do not realise what is happening, although when they later develop AIDS they look back and remember the symptoms clearly. Most people have produced HIV antibodies in about twelve weeks.

Latent infection

Then everything settles down. The person now has a positive test, and feels completely well - no symptoms at all. The virus often seems to disappear completely from the blood again. However, during this latent phase, HIV can be found in large quantities in lymph nodes, spleen, adenoid glands and tonsils. We do not know how many people will go on to the next stage. As we saw in an earlier chapter, at first doctors thought it might only be one in ten, then two or three out of ten. Now it looks as though at least nine out of ten will develop further problems.

San Francisco studies show that in developed countries, without use of the latest therapies, 50% with HIV develop AIDS in ten years, 70% in fourteen years. Of those with AIDS, 94% are dead in five years. The rate of progression can be much faster in those with weakened immunity from other causes---drug users or those in developing countries, for example. It can be far slower in those on various treatments.

Most scientists and doctors are convinced that if we follow up infected people for long enough---maybe for twenty to thirty years or more if they are getting good treatment---then all or nearly all will die of AIDS, unless they have died of something else in the meantime such as a heart attack or cancer. How long can someone live before some infection triggers production of more virus and death of more white cells?

The next stage begins when the immune system starts to break down. This is often preceded by subtle mutations in the virus, during which it becomes more aggressive in damaging white cells. New HIV symptoms develop. Several glands in the neck and armpits may swell and remain swollen for more than three months without any explanation. This is known as persistent generalised lymphadenopathy (PGL).

Early disease progression

As the disease progresses, the person develops other conditions related to AIDS. A simple boil or warts may spread all over the body. The mouth may become infected by thrush (thick white coating), or may develop some other problem. Dentists are often the first to be in a position to make the diagnosis. People may develop severe shingles (painful blisters in a band of red skin), or herpes. They may feel overwhelmingly tired all the time, have high temperatures, drenching night sweats, lose more than 10% of their body weight, and have diarrhoea lasting more than a month. No other cause is found and a blood test will usually be positive. Some used to call this stage ARC, or AIDS related complex.

You can easily panic reading a list of symptoms like this because all of us tend to read about diseases and think instantly we've got them. Chronic diarrhoea does not mean you have HIV infection or AIDS. Nor do symptoms such as weight loss, high temperatures, tiredness and swollen glands. These things can be particularly common in many developing countries.

At the moment in many countries there is an epidemic of viral illnesses which cause fevers, tiredness, rashes and other symptoms that last a long time, always go away completely, and have nothing to do with HIV infection or AIDS. See your doctor or go to a clinic for sexually-transmitted diseases (STD) or genito-urinary medicine (GUM) if you are unsure.

Late HIV illness---AIDS

The final stage is AIDS. Most of the immune system is intact and the body can deal with most infections, but one or two more unusual infections become almost impossible for the body to get rid of without medical help---usually intensive antibiotics.

These infections can be a nightmare for doctors and patients. The desperate struggle is to find the new germ, identify it, and give the right drug in huge doses to kill it. The germ may be hiding deep in a lung requiring a tube (bronchoscope) to be put down the windpipe into the lung to get a sample. The person is sedated for this. It may be hiding in the fluid covering the brain and spinal cord, requiring a needle to be put into the spine (lumbar puncture). It may be hiding in the brain itself. It may hide in the liver or gall-bladder or bowel. It can hide anywhere.

Chest infections are common

The most common infection is a chest infection. A twenty-three-year-old man walks into his doctor's office with a chest infection not responding to antibiotics. He is flushed and has a high temperature. He has been increasingly short of breath with a dry cough for several weeks. He becomes breathless and has an emergency chest X-ray. The X-ray is strange. No one has seen anything like it before. Could this be AIDS? Samples are taken from the lung. The man is rushed to intensive care and is too ill to ask if he would agree to a blood test. Within two days he is dead. A strange germ is found in his lung: pneumocystis carinii. This is incredibly rare except in AIDS.

He may or may not be reported as a statistic to the centre collecting information on AIDS. This is voluntary and doctors are busy. If he had died a day or two earlier, the cause of death would have been thought to be pneumonia. Yet another silent victim, unnoticed and unrecorded. Our statistics may be incomplete, and remember, no test was done for HIV.

He was unlucky. Average life expectancy if you develop your first pneumocystis pneumonia is just over two years. 78% survive the first episode, only 40% survive the second. You could live for over three years, or you might be dead in three months. Each new chest infection could be your last. Often people seem only an hour or two from death, then pull around, recover completely, and go home for several months until the next crisis.

We know that eighty-five out of a hundred people with these chest infections in Western nations are infected with pneumocystis carinii, but many are infected with several things at once. Worldwide, the commonest HIV-related chest infection is tuberculosis. As HIV spreads, TB is on the increase, with possibly a million extra cases a year at present as a result of HIV. Latent TB infection is common in the general population. HIV damage to CD4 white cells allows reactivation, rapid deterioration and death.

Damage to nervous system

Half of the people with AIDS will develop signs of brain impairment or nerve damage during their illness. In one person out of ten it is the first symptom. HIV itself seems to attack, damage and destroy brain cells of the majority of people with AIDS who survive long enough. The virus is probably carried into the brain by special white cells called macrophages, which then produce more virus there. Brain cells have a texture on their surfaces similar to CD4 white cells which enables the virus to latch on and enter.

The damage happens gradually and often is not noticed until a significant part of the brain has been destroyed: a brain scan shows a shrunken appearance with enlarged cavities. The signs can be threefold: difficulties in thinking, difficulties in co-ordinating balance and moving, and changes in behaviour. Sometimes the problems are caused by other infections spreading throughout the body, or by tumours, all brought on by AIDS.

Brain damage affects children as well. In one study, sixteen out of twenty-one children with AIDS developed progressive brain destruction (encephalopathy). But any part of the nervous system can be damaged in adults or children, not just the brain, and AIDS can mimic just about any other disease of nerves.

Children with HIV

Worldwide, over 3 million children have HIV infection and half a million die every year. Altogether, 83% of children with HIV will show some kind of abnormality in their white cells, or will have symptoms, by the time they are six months old. Problems seen can include large lymph nodes, enlarged liver and spleen, failure to thrive (small for age), small head, ear infections, chest infections, unexplained fever, encephalopathy (brain deterioration).

Of those showing symptoms within the first year of life, half die before the age of three. However, with improved treatments children are surviving longer. A common pattern is beginning to emerge of a child who becomes unwell in the first year or two of life with different chronic or acute infections, yet with treatment carries on for many years, possibly even into adolescence with many ups and downs. Pain and other symptoms are often overlooked in these children.

Blood tests are often confused by the presence after birth of the mother's own antibodies.

All babies of infected mothers will test positive for around the first year, whether infected or not. Most babies who test positive at birth turn out to be uninfected. The greatest risk to the baby is the birth process itself and breast milk. Dramatic reductions in infection rates can be made if the mother is given anti-viral medication before and immediately after birth. This is one of the most appropriate occasions to use anti-viral drugs in the poorest nations. But it should always be done under strict medical supervision.

There is a very slight risk that children who later test negative may still carry HIV. If first infected in the womb, the child may regard HIV as part of itself and not react to it. We are still in the early stages of learning about HIV in children.

Skin rashes and growths

The majority of people with AIDS develop skin problems which are usually an exaggeration of things common to most people, such as acne and rashes of various kinds. Cold sores and genital herpes may develop, or warts. Athlete's foot in severe forms, ringworm and thrush are common. Rashes due to food allergy are also common---no one knows why. Hair frequently falls out. Drug rashes frequently occur, often due to life-saving co-trimoxazole used for treatment or prevention of the pneumocystis carinii pneumonia.

Kaposi's sarcoma develops in up to a quarter of the people with AIDS (depending on the country and route of infection). This produces blue or red hard painless patches on the skin, often on the face. In the majority of these people it is the first sign of AIDS. Tumours can spread to lymph nodes, gut lining and lungs where they can be confused with pneumocystis pneumonia. The growths may be caused by a second virus that is allowed to grow more easily if you have AIDS. Treatment consists mainly of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, including injections of the lesions.

Because it often affects the face or may be visible elsewhere on the body and is so distinctive, people who develop Kaposi's sarcoma often feel especially vulnerable. In fact people usually live longer if they first develop this tumour than if they first develop a pneumonia. Kaposi's sarcoma is less common in drug users with AIDS, presumably because it is caused by a second virus also found in , which is then activated by HIV.

The other common cancer is a tumour (lymphoma) which develops in the brain or elsewhere in the body.

Problems in gut, eyes and other organs

Almost all people with AIDS have stomach problems from strange infections and cancers caused by AIDS and HIV attacking the gut directly. All three cause food to be poorly digested resulting in diarrhoea and weight loss. Stool samples can be examined or samples can be taken from within the gut using special tubing (endoscopy) to see if there is a second treatable infection in addition to HIV.

AIDS can also seriously affect sight in up to a quarter of all those with HIV by allowing an infection of the back of the eye (retinitis). This is usually caused by cytomegalovirus and is sometimes amenable to treatment. In addition, the virus can cause damage to other organs of the body such as the heart.

Changing disease pattern in adults

In different parts of the world, AIDS tends to have its own characteristics. This may be due to the pattern of other illnesses present in different communities, which explains why TB is the commonest cause of death from AIDS in Africa and Asia. Different patterns may be related to different co-factors ( compared to drug injectors, for example), viral differences or possibly genetic differences.

However, patterns are changing. For example, the incidence of Kaposi's sarcoma is falling among with HIV in a number of countries, while it is rising among drug users. Some of these changed patterns are because of altered treatments; others are due to other factors.

As survival times have increased, other problems have emerged which are far more difficult to treat. These include blindness due to cytomegalovirus, progressive multifocal leucoencephalopathy (weakness, muscle wasting, difficulty thinking), cryptosporidiosis (causes various infections), mycobacterium infections and cryptococcal meningitis.

In addition, as we have seen, advanced Kaposi's sarcoma can bring its own problems, with lung involvement causing shortness of breath and triggering chest infections, gut involvement causing obstruction or sudden bleeding, and with blockage of lymphatic drainage causing swollen limbs or face, skin ulceration and infection.

In a quarter of those dying with AIDS, the exact cause of death may be difficult to establish, with profound weakness, loss of weight and multi-system failure. Many infections can be chronic, low grade and difficult to diagnose, and when diagnosed can be hard to treat. Indeed, post-mortem examinations show that half of all HIV-related diseases found at autopsy have not been diagnosed during life.

In the early days in many countries, those with AIDS often spent a long time in hospital as doctors battled to get to grips with the complex spectrum of illnesses. Now people with AIDS are usually able to spend more time at home, with many treatments given in clinics or in the home. However, many have multiple problems and need practical help, backed by nursing care and symptom control, to stay at home in comfort and in control of their own lives. Later on in this book we will look at the practicalities of setting up community care programmes.

Many people who are ill are now opting not to have every symptom investigated, when the price is valuable time spent in hospital, unpleasant tests, and treatments that may have side effects.

AIDS diagnosis in developing nations

In developing countries it can be hard to make an accurate diagnosis of AIDS because of the lack of HIV testing facilities. The World Health Organisation proposed a clinical case definition, combining symptoms and signs common in AIDS (see table below). This has been used as the basis for AIDS statistics in many countries, but is inaccurate.

A study of hospital patients in Zaire showed that the case definition missed 31% of AIDS cases (definition not very sensitive), and 10% of those it identified as having AIDS were errors. The case definition misses people dying with severe HIV illnesses which do not fit the definition. For example, deaths from streptococcal pneumonia are far more common in those with HIV, yet such deaths were not included.

The commonest manifestations of AIDS in Africa are gross weight loss, chronic diarrhoea and chronic fever---the picture of `slim disease' as AIDS is known in African countries. However, it is difficult to exclude other causes for the same symptoms and signs.

Deaths from tuberculosis are another problem. TB is probably the most important infection in those with HIV in Africa. High rates of TB infection are found in those with HIV and the risk of death from TB is greatly increased in those with HIV. However, it is questionable whether all those with TB and HIV can be diagnosed as AIDS cases, since many have TB anyway. Many with TB lose weight and have fever as well as a cough. Therefore in the absence of HIV testing, many with advanced TB are likely to be labelled as AIDS cases using the WHO case definition.

In the light of all these problems, a revised case definition has been agreed. You may wonder how it is possible to be sure of the right diagnosis at all without laboratory facilities, and the answer is that it is very difficult.

Some have pounced on this difficulty to suggest that there is no AIDS in Africa at all. As we see elsewhere, this is not very convincing for two reasons. First, death rates have soared in the sexually-active age groups as HIV infection rates have risen. TB and other illnesses have been around and studied in detail for decades. Something new is happening. Secondly, when people with AIDS from African nations are cared for either in countries like the UK, or in very well-equipped hospitals nearer home, it is clear that there are gross abnormalities of their immune systems indicative of AIDS, with positive antibodies for HIV and damaged white cells.

AIDS-related illnesses in Africa

The spectrum of illness seen in AIDS in African nations can vary, particularly in places where HIV-2 is more prevalent. The pattern is very different from developed countries:

• Candida (thrush) in the mouth 80--100%
• Oesophageal candidiasis 30--50%
• Tuberculosis 30--50%
• Cerebral toxoplasmosis 15--20%
• Herpes zoster (shingles) 10%
• Cryptosporidiosis (diarrhoea) 50%

Most people have several problems. (For further discussion on needs of those with AIDS and how to meet them, see Chapters 10, 11 and 14; also Appendices A, B and C.)

So, now that we have reviewed how the virus attacks cells and causes diseases associated with AIDS, we are in a position to look at some of the ways the virus can enter the human body and how we can prevent it from happening.

The Truth About AIDS

• Introduction - the truth about AIDS
• Chapter 1: The Extent of the AIDS Nightmare
• Chapter 2: What's so Special about an AIDS / HIV Virus?
• Chapter 3: When Cells Start to Die
• Chapter 4: How People Become Infected by HIV
• Chapter 5: Questions People Ask about AIDS / HIV and a Christian response / church programmes
• Chapter 6: Condoms Are Unsafe
• Chapter 7: Moral Dilemas in AIDS / HIV work
• Chapter 8: Wrath or Reaping? Is AIDS the wrath of God? Is AIDS the anger of God?
• Chapter 9: Some Life and Death Issues
• Chapter 10: When Church Members Need Help about AIDS
• Chapter 11: Others Need Help about AIDS Too
• Chapter 12: Saving Lives - preventing HIV infection
• Chapter 13: Needle and Condom Distribution to stop HIV spread?
• Chapter 14: Special AIDS / HIV Issues in Africa and Asia
• Chapter 15: A Ten Point Plan for the Government
• Chapter 16: A Global Christian Challenge and a Christian Response to AIDS

Join the Debate! What are your own views?

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murthy

July 28, 2016 - 18:18

I had unprotected sex with lady 25 months back.
Her test results; 7 month tridot negative,25 th month hiv 1/2+p24 combo tests negative done at dr lal path lab in india.
My test results; 3,12,18 months hiv elisa negative and 21 month hiv 1/2+p24 combo tests negative done at dr lal path lab in india.
hiv sd bioline ab 3.0 negative at 25 th month but i suffer with chronic sore throat,body rash,weight loss,tongue ulcer at one side comes and goes by using b complex tablets.she look well than before and she was married before 7 years back.she told to me also suffer sore throat problem seasonal from her tonsiles removal before 3 yaers back
1. Dr dix. please help me am i rule out hiv infection from all history because i am not sexually active,this one time incident.
2.i married soon…please tell me am i free to marry from your experience.
Please tell me sir i am very anxiaty.

ashay

January 26, 2016 - 20:27

Hello sir.. I m 25 yrs old male . i had unprotected sex with a person who has HIV and all symptoms of HIV with weight loss around 40 lbs I was scared and 1 year later i went to a clinic for test and report came out negative more 1 year later tested again negative... Plzzz just tell what is this.....

Reply to ashay

Patrick Dixon

February 28, 2016 - 19:15

Thank you - there could be something else wrong with you. Important if you are still feeling unwell or losing weight to see your doctor.

ashay

January 26, 2016 - 20:27

Hello sir.. I m 25 yrs old male . u had unprotected sex with a person who has HIV and all symptoms of HIV with weight loss around 40 lbs I was scared and 1 year later i went to a clinic for test and report came out negative more 1 year later tested again negative... Plzzz just tell what is this.....

LOVE

November 02, 2015 - 04:22

I WENT TO A PRIVATE CLINIC THER RUN A RAPID TEST IN FIVE MINUTES THE RESULT WAS POSITIVE CAN BE SURE ABUT THAT

Reply to LOVE

Patrick Dixon

February 29, 2016 - 07:17

If you had a clinic test for HIV that was positive, it is really important that you are properly followed up by the doctors in that clinic, so you get all the right advice and treatment.

mary

October 23, 2015 - 10:28

hello, is they any possibility of having HIV through breast sucking

Reply to mary

Patrick Dixon

February 29, 2016 - 07:20

Breast feeding is a very common way for a newborn baby to become infected with HIV from an infected mother. One of the key strategies to prevent mother to child transmission of HIV is to discourage breast feeding by infected women. For reasons we do not understand, the mouth / gut of a newborn is particularly vulnerable to HIV infection.

Mandy

October 19, 2015 - 07:57

I was diagnosed with HIV this year, and for some reason my mind was ready for that answer since I had been showing strange signs since January of this year. Both my love were there with me when I got the news and we are both very supportive, and I am truly thankful for that. I told my closest friends, one of them being the girl I really like, and she has been supporting me since I started this whole process and has always given me support. So far no one has turned their back on me due to ignorance or anything like that. I am thankful that I have not fallen into a depression or anything like that. On Monday August I get my result for CD4 (T-cell) count and virus load count, and I am hoping I have a high level of T-cells.

adams olu

October 12, 2015 - 11:17

over a year now i have been noticing body hottness and i have gone for hiv test two times but it lead negative please what should i called

Reply to adams olu

Patrick Dixon

February 29, 2016 - 07:24

Maybe something else is wrong with you - you need to see your doctor for advice.

bisola

September 30, 2015 - 11:21

I had sex wit three guy at same day,and after 4-5 days I develops itching of d skin wit appear like mosquito bite ,but I suffer from std,before having DAT unprotested sex.am thinking something like HIV has not occur.

Reply to bisola

Patrick Dixon

February 29, 2016 - 07:26

You need to see a doctor / visit a clinic for sexually transmitted diseases.

vincent

August 08, 2015 - 17:34

nice topics

anonymous

July 19, 2015 - 21:12

Hi I would like to remain anonymous please. For the past 2 years I have been having sex with 1 partner. Now we have a 6 months baby and while I was pregnant I tested negative. I got pregnant while my baby is 4 months then I had a miscarriage when he was 6. During that time my feet are swollen, what could be the cause

Reply to anonymous

Patrick Dixon

February 28, 2016 - 19:15

You need to see your doctor. Swollen feet are common during pregnancy.

mohit

April 18, 2015 - 18:04

hello , thanx for the information . I had an protected sex with a sex worker before 5 months ago . My skin is itching very much . Pimples at penis Brain is paining . Throat is swollen .sometimes blured image . is this hiv as i have an protective sex ? Please help me

Clint

April 12, 2015 - 15:10

Hello am clint, my grilfriend and I have been having unprotected sex and I have been having contant tingling and needle pricks in my arms and hands. What could be the cause?

azola zondi

April 03, 2015 - 22:47

I was drunk nd I slpt wit a gal without using a condom....than after 2 weeks I had pimples on over my face I got heavy cold flu,ringworms all over my body,my neck got swollen and had dirrhoe.....I'm so scared I cnt even focus on my studies I'm evn losing weight.....I scared 2 go and test.....do u think I'm infected plz rply as soon as possible plz *worried*

oliver

February 23, 2015 - 18:58

Hello am oliver, well I had sex with a Prostitute but I was using condom but the condom broke, I didn't know and I had cum but the semen didn't come out of my penis, I was so scared, I didn't have the mind to go and check myself if I have hiv, it been 3years. But there was no symptoms but now I feel recently tired for the past 4 days now ...am really scared...I want to check myself now but I want to know my chance of have hiv please help me

Reply to oliver

Patrick Dixon

February 27, 2015 - 15:41

The risk of HIV from a single episode of unprotected sex is relatively low, but higher if the partner has another sexually transmitted disease which may be the case with a commercial sex worker. It is important that you are tested for HIV and I suggest that you attend a Genito-urinary Medicine Clinic at your local hospital for advice.

Reply to oliver

Patrick Dixon

February 27, 2015 - 16:11

The risk of HIV from a single episode of unprotected sex is relatively low, but higher if the partner has another sexually transmitted disease which may be the case with a commercial sex worker. It is important that you are tested for HIV and I suggest that you attend a Genito-urinary Medicine Clinic at your local hospital for advice.

victor

January 16, 2015 - 10:37

hie everyone,in December 2011 i had sex with a woman and the condom burst during sex.i suffered from an sti/std that time but my problem is um having boils in my armpits.my other armpit is ok but i
today in the morning i saw another boil growing.help me please.i fear i might be hiv positive

Reply to victor

Patrick Dixon

February 27, 2015 - 15:46

It is important that you are tested for HIV if you have had unprotected sex in a risky situation. Seek advice from your local hospital genitorurinary medicine clinic.

idil

December 26, 2014 - 06:40

hi. thanks for the information on jan 14 2014 i was raped by 3 men i didnot tell any one and i did not have any knowledge about PEP so 32 days after incidence i had symptoms like flu taste change vomiting and about 5 rashes looked like mosquito bite 4.5 months later i had tonsilitis i tested 88days and 103days after negative then 4.5 months then 6.5months last 7.5months all were negative the tesy was CLLODIAL HIV 1/2 finger prick antibody test then i took CBC and ESR the cbc was normal but ESR was 55/1hr i'm still conviced that i have it b/c when i have flu i get really too sick so i think that my immunity get lower so pls help me should i test again i also have needle prick sensation pls is this HIV?

Reply to idil

Patrick Dixon

January 15, 2015 - 14:42

Well it does not sound like you have an HIV infection. You need to see your doctor to rule out anything else being wrong with you.

MarsyKaltum

November 22, 2014 - 03:24

Hi everyone,
regardless that it is a touch embarrassing to say, I am literally trying to find a route to successfully treat pe issues and enhance staying power and resistence and over-all performance.
Any advice anybody?

heyden

September 22, 2014 - 20:21

Is there possibility of HIV infection when drinking water mixed with HIV infected blood drinked.

Reply to heyden

matt

April 30, 2015 - 21:25

There is no risk of infection from this type of exposure. Your stomach acid would immediately kill the hiv virus. you do not have to worrry about infection. I hope this helps.

ashish kumar

January 20, 2014 - 07:07

Last year I done sex with one prostitute I usen condem but it brust in side ....but after 3 week I Tooke hiv test and the report was negative....may u tell me that time is sufficent to identify the infection...

Samuel

September 06, 2013 - 19:37

i had HIV test on eight different occasions, all negative result. but I develop virtually all symptoms of the disease ranging from sever oral thrush to kidney problem down to constant ear pain. i went as far as testing the girl i slept with she tested negative too as well. unending flu like infections is also one of the major symptoms i battle. i am tired of doctors telling me that there is nothing wrong with me. I'll appreciate if you can help hepatitis test also done and all negative result please help

rachael tom

June 19, 2013 - 12:02

I did have sex with 8 different strangers and right now i'm having fever and tiredness for more than a month and i'm confused?

janak kumar

May 07, 2013 - 04:10

I was having cough and light fever for 8 weeks and lose of weight .All tests were normal (thyroid. typhoid lever tests). Now i am better with no fever and cough a n my wt is steady .is there any possibility of any communicable diseaselike Tb.

hi

November 29, 2012 - 19:31

what si the duration period for these symtoms

RAVI

June 17, 2012 - 20:33

Reliable HIV test report.

Hello Mr. Dixon,
As, i had sex with strange, so could you tell me how long it will take to have a reliable HIV test report. second point is, how long is sufficient to take decision that i am ok or infected from HIV, on the basis of symptom realization on my own.

ashish

March 21, 2012 - 12:05

athlete foot

i had unprocted sex with unknown person, and after nine months i took spot test to detect that im infected with hiv and the result showed negative. but now after 11 months i have developed athelete foot so i want to ask you that, according to you that im infected by hiv or not. reply me soon as its killing me

Reply to ashish

Patrick Dixon

March 21, 2012 - 17:25

Re: athlete foot

Thanks - it is good that you had a test for HIV and I am glad it was negative. Athlete's foot is a mild fungal condition that is easy to treat, and not caused by HIV. You need to see your doctor to get his advice.

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