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HIV's early symptoms

Dear Eve

with Rosemarie Stone

Monday, February 22, 2010

Dear Eve,

What are the early symptoms of HIV, and what is the difference between HIV and AIDS? I am a little unsure.

Dear Unsure,

AIDS is a chronic life-threatening condition caused by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). By damaging the immune system HIV interferes with your body's ability to fight off viruses, bacteria and fungi that cause disease. So a HIV-infected person can develop symptoms that can lead to advanced HIV or AIDS.

Many people do not develop any symptoms when they become infected. I think I belong to this group because I do not recall any symptom that I could point to. These illnesses may include fever, headache, tiredness, nausea, diarrhoea and enlarged or swollen lymph nodes. These symptoms often disappear within a week to a month and are often mistaken for another viral infection.

There are some persons who are non-symptomatic, that is, they do not develop any symptoms for several years (asymptomatic). This period -- asymptomatic infection -- varies from individual to individual. During this asymptomatic period the virus may be actively multiplying, infecting and killing cells that are part of the immune system.

I was diagnosed in 1992 and I had no symptoms except that I was tired all the time. In 1996 when I checked my CD4, my T-Cell count was 50. A year later I became very ill and needed medication. This means that the virus was multiplying, infecting and killing my immune cells during my non-symptomatic period.

There are a few Jamaicans who belong to this asymptomatic category. Not only are they non-symptomatic but their viral load and their CD4 are at a stage that they do not need medication after 10 to 13 years of HIV infection. It is estimated that 27,000 persons are living with HIV in Jamaica but more than 50 per cent do not know they are infected. That is why the Ministry of Health is encouraging everyone who is or has been sexually active to get tested. There is only one sure way to know if you fall in the latter category and that is to get tested.

It is frightening to think of persons who do not know that they have the virus and are also asymptomatic and might be spreading the virus unknowingly.

Please send your questions or comments to Dear Eve at info@eveforlife.org.

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HIV's early symptoms