HIV/AIDS – Facts and Fallacies
HIV infection has four stages. After two to six weeks from contracting the virus, symptoms that resemble the ones of the flu can appear. This way, the infected person can feel nausea, fever, night sweating, fatigue, and altered general state, headaches, muscle pain, etc. There are patients who do not mind these symptoms, or the symptoms simply do not appear. For the correct diagnosis of the HIV AIDS, it is necessary that special tests be conducted. The second phase is where the virus begins to multiply. This phase progress slowly and could last for a number of years. The infected person will not show any physical symptoms of the infection, but their mental and emotional state could get a beating. Those who do not know they are infected will not feel any indications of the infection. The third phase ushers the patient towards the Aids Related Complex or ARC. The symptoms are not going away this time, but instead they will intensify and cause the patient to suffer the effects of acute infection and begin to experience changes in his/her general condition. Thus the patient progresses to the next phase of the infection. Now we come to the final stage of HIV which is now the AIDS phase. By now, the patient’s compromised immune system is still being assaulted by opportunistic infections. Under normal circumstances of a healthy immune system, these infections could be readily resisted. However, as the patient’s immune system continues to deteriorate, so thus the body’s capacity to fight this otherwise common germs and bacteria.
Tags: AIDS, HIV, HIV Infection