Visual symptoms alone cannot diagnose HIV/AIDS.
Clear visual symptoms for diagnosing acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) do not exist. Instead, symptoms of other opportunistic infections--by organisms that would not normally cause infection in healthy humans--sometimes appear, and testing leads to the AIDS diagnosis. In late-stage AIDS, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the retrovirus that causes AIDS, may itself show unique visual symptoms.
Early Stages
AIDS can cause flu-like symptoms.
On initial infection with HIV, few or no symptoms may appear, but commonly, those infected report development of flu-like illnesses between two and four weeks after the known infection period. These symptoms are known as acute retroviral syndrome (ARS) and might include the visual symptoms of briefly swollen lymph nodes and rashes, as well as the non-visual symptoms of fever, headache and sore throat.
Late Stages
While many individuals infected with HIV remain symptom free for up to nine years (or significantly longer if the individual is receiving antiretroviral therapy, which can increase the time between HIV infection and the onset of AIDS), the virus multiplies, destroying immune cells. Eventually, the virus overtakes the immune system, resulting in infections or chronic symptoms. Visual symptoms of late-stage infection include continuously swollen lymph nodes and unexplained weight loss. Non-visual symptoms include unexplained diarrhea, persistent fever, coughing and trouble breathing.
Final Stage
Around the 10-year mark, or later if antiretroviral therapy is effective, more serious symptoms begin to appear, officially qualifying the infection for the AIDS diagnosis. The damage to the immune system by this time is severe, opening the door for multiple opportunistic infections. Symptoms of the visual symptoms might include unusual lesions or white spots in the mouth or on the tongue and weight loss. Non-visual symptoms are night sweats and shaking chills, fever above 100 degrees Fahrenheit over several days or weeks, breathing problems and dry cough, chronic diarrhea, distorted or blurred vision, and headache.
Symptoms of the HIV infection itself may also present--note that many are similar to the symptoms of the opportunistic infections--and include soaking night sweats and shaking chills, persistent fatigue, fever above 100 degrees F over three or more weeks, swollen lymph nodes over three months, chronic headaches and unrelieved diarrhea.
One result is wasting syndrome, the involuntary loss of body weight (10 percent or more) caused by the ongoing fever and diarrhea.
Symptoms in Children
Frequent ear infections may develop in children.
As infected children develop, common childhood illness may have severe consequences. These illnesses include ear infections (otitis media), pneumonia and tonsillitis. Other developmental symptoms may appear as lack of normal weight gain, abnormal growth patterns, difficulty walking, and arrested or delayed cognitive development.
Warning
Because many people infected with HIV have only mild symptoms for many years, symptoms alone are unreliable in determining either HIV infection or AIDS: Testing is required.
Tags: lymph nodes, swollen lymph, swollen lymph nodes, above degrees, AIDS diagnosis, antiretroviral therapy, fever above
