Thursday, March 28, 2024

How Long After Being Infected With Hiv Do Symptoms Appear

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How Do I Avoid Passing Hiv On To Someone Else

Real Question: How Long Does it Take to Test Positive for HIV?

If you are infected with HIV, the best way to prevent spreading HIV infection to others is to:

  • take your medication as prescribed there is a very low risk of passing on HIV if your own infection is under control
  • never share needles, syringes and other injecting equipment

If you have HIV infection, you are expected to notify anyone who is at risk of exposure from you:

  • Tell people you have had sex or taken drugs with . Your doctor can help you decide who may be at risk and help you to contact them either personally or anonymously.
  • Tell anyone you intend to have sex with about your HIV status . This is required by law in some states.

If you are pregnant, talk to your doctor about starting antiretroviral treatment to prevent the infection passing to the baby during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding. Read more about HIV and pregnancy.

What Our Experts Say

COVID-19 symptoms vary from person to person, and so does the time it takes for the symptoms to appear. In general, it may take between two to 14 days after exposure to COVID-19 for symptoms to appear. According to the WHO, on average it may take 5-6 days for symptoms to appear.

Symptom onset also depends on the variant to which one is exposed.The incubation period for the Delta variant was shorter than the previous variants, and for Omicron it appears to be about three days, on average.

Some people have mild to moderate symptoms including fever, cough, tiredness, loss of taste or smell, sore throat, aches, and pains, while others may have more serious symptoms. Others may be asymptomatic, and infected people without symptoms can still infect others and are most infectious during the two days before symptoms appear. It is recommended that public health guidance be followed and one get tested if they have been exposed to anyone who has been confirmed to be infected with Sars-CoV-2.

COVID-19 symptoms vary from person to person, and so does the time it takes for the symptoms to appear. In general, it may take between two to 14 days after exposure to COVID-19 for symptoms to appear. According to the WHO, on average it may take 5-6 days for symptoms to appear.

Symptom onset also depends on the variant to which one is exposed.The incubation period for the Delta variant was shorter than the previous variants, and for Omicron it appears to be about three days, on average.

If I Have Hiv How Can I Keep From Spreading It To Others

The best ways to keep from spreading HIV to others are many of the same ways you use to protect yourself:

  • Let sexual partners and anyone you inject drugs with know that you have HIV.
  • Follow your treatment plan and dont miss medications. If you have an undetectable viral load, you greatly reduce the risk of transmitting HIV through sex.
  • Talk to your sexual partner about taking PrEP.
  • Dont share needles or other equipment to inject drugs.
  • Limit the number of sexual partners you have.
  • If youre pregnant and have HIV, following your treatment plan, including ART medications, can reduce your risk of transmitting the virus to your child.

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What Is Human Immunodeficiency Virus

HIV is a blood-borne virus, a member of the Retroviridae family that can be transmitted by sexual intercourse, intravenous drug materials contaminated by the virus, mother-to-child during birth or breastfeeding and cause immunodeficiency in the person infected. Diagnosis is done by having a positive lab test for HIV. There is no cure for HIV but antiretroviral treatment can control the virus so patients can live long and healthy lives.

How To Tell If Symptoms Are Hiv

What are the symptoms of HIV?

There are three types of HIV tests:

  • An NAT involves drawing blood from a vein. It can tell if you have HIV or how much virus is present in your blood. While an NAT can detect HIV sooner than other types of tests, this test is very expensive and not routinely used for screening individuals unless they recently had a high-risk exposure, or a possible exposure and have early symptoms of HIV infection. This test takes several days for results to come back.
  • An antigen/antibody test is recommended for testing done in labs and is now common in the United States. It involves drawing blood from a vein, and results take several days to come back. There is also a rapid antigen/antibody test available that is done with a finger prick and takes 30 minutes or less to get results.
  • HIV antibody tests only look for antibodies to HIV in your blood or oral fluid. In general, antibody tests that use blood from a vein can detect HIV sooner after infection than tests done with blood from a finger prick or with oral fluid. Antibody tests can detect an HIV infection 23 to 90 days after exposure. Most rapid tests and the only currently approved HIV self-test are antibody tests. They take 20 minutes or less to provide results.

Keep in mind, any positive result would necessitate a second test to confirm it. The only test that would not require a second confirmatory test is the NAT.

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What Are The Stages Of Hiv

HIV has three stages:

Stage 1: Acute HIV

Some people get flu-like symptoms a month or two after theyve been infected with HIV. These symptoms often go away within a week to a month.

Stage 2: Chronic stage/clinical latency

After the acute stage, you can have HIV for many years without feeling sick. It’s important to know that you can still spread HIV to others even if you feel well.

Stage 3: AIDS

AIDS is the most serious stage of HIV infection. In this stage, HIV has severely weakened your immune system and opportunistic infections are much more likely to make you sick.

Opportunistic infections are ones that someone with a healthy immune system could typically fight off. When HIV has advanced to AIDS, these illnesses take advantage of your weakened immune system.

Youre more likely to get certain cancers when you have AIDS. These cancers and opportunistic infections together are called AIDS-defining illnesses.

To be diagnosed with AIDS, you must be infected with HIV and have at least one of the following:

  • Fewer than 200 CD4 cells per cubic millimeter of blood .
  • An AIDS-defining illness.

Can Hiv Symptoms Show Up The Day After Sex

No, HIV has no symptoms in the days immediately following exposure or infection.

So if you had sex yesterday and today you are feeling under the weather, you can rest assured that this is nothing to do with having picked up HIV yesterday. If your health is poor today, you should investigate the real reason for that — it is likely to be something totally different from HIV.

And if you think you took a risk in the sex you had yesterday, then looking out for symptoms either today or in the coming weeks is a completely unreliable way to infer your HIV status. Many people don’t have any symptoms soon after HIV infection or don’t notice them. Taking an HIV test is the only way to know.

When people do have symptoms soon after HIV infection, this typically occurs in the first few weeks after infection and not during the first week. This is known as acute retroviral syndrome or primary HIV infection.

At this time and for a duration of up to two weeks, some individuals have symptoms including sore throat, muscle and joint aches and pains, rashes, chills, night sweats, headaches, feeling generally unwell, mouth ulcers, weight loss, tiredness and swollen glands.

It’s important to remember that there are many other infections that can cause similar symptoms, including influenza and mononucleosis.

Following this short period, most people have no symptoms for several years.

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What Are The Tests For Detecting Hiv

Various tests may be used for HIV detection:

  • HIV antibody test: This test detects the antibodies produced in the body in response to HIV.
  • Antigen test: This test can be done at an earlier stage than an HIV antibody test. It measures a protein called p24 antigen, present in the virus and produced in high amounts after the infection.
  • Nucleic acid test : It is also called an RNA test. It is a very specific test that looks for the virus itself and can detect HIV as early as about 10 days of infections.
  • In-home test kits: Although less accurate than the laboratory-based tests, home-based kits have the advantage of testing in the privacy and comfort of the home. Only FDA approved home-based kits should be used.
  • Viral culture: This involves using the patients sample and growing the virus in the lab. It takes longer to get the results and is not the most preferred test for HIV.

Who Does Hiv Affect

how long does it take to show symptoms of hiv ?

Its a myth that HIV only infects certain people. Anyone can get HIV if theyre exposed to the virus. Having sex without a condom or sharing needles to inject drugs are the most common ways that HIV spreads.

Some populations are statistically more affected by HIV than others. Groups disproportionately affected by HIV include:

  • People who identify as gay, bisexual and men who have sex with men .
  • Certain races such as people who are Black or Hispanic.
  • Those who exchange sex for money or other items are also at high risk for HIV infection.

While these arent the only populations impacted by HIV, its important to consider that they face unique barriers to accessing preventative care, getting tested, and receiving comprehensive treatment. Homophobia, racism, poverty, and social stigmas around HIV continue to drive inequities and keep people from accessing high-quality healthcare.

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Stage : Clinical Latency

In this stage, the virus still multiplies, but at very low levels. People in this stage may not feel sick or have any symptoms. This stage is also called chronic HIV infection.

Without HIV treatment, people can stay in this stage for 10 or 15 years, but some move through this stage faster.

If you take HIV medicine exactly as prescribed and get and keep an undetectable viral load, you can live and long and healthy life and will not transmit HIV to your HIV-negative partners through sex.

But if your viral load is detectable, you can transmit HIV during this stage, even when you have no symptoms. Its important to see your health care provider regularly to get your viral load checked.

What Are The Symptoms Of Hiv

The first stage of HIV, known as the primary or acute HIV infection, usually occurs within 6-12 weeks after a person has been infected with HIV. The initial infection usually yields flu-like symptoms such as fever, chills, night sweats, and rashes. Some people can actually be infected for years before they ever get the symptoms.

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Symptom : Swollen Lymph Nodes Achy Muscles And Joint Pain

Lymph nodes are part of your bodys immune system and protect your blood by getting rid of bacteria and viruses. They tend to get inflamed when theres an infection. Many of them are located in your armpit, groin and neck which can result in aches and pains in these areas.

Given these symptoms are common across many viral infections, they alone are not a reliable way to determine if the infection you are experiencing is HIV.

Benefits Of Early Detection And Treatment

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If you think you may have an STD, its important to stop engaging in sexual activity and seek treatment. Early detection and treatment of STDs plays an important role in stopping the transmission of STDs between yourself, your sexual partners, and their sexual partners. In some cases, it can even save your life.

Some of the potential risks of untreated STDs include:

Taking care of your sexual health is important. Not everyone will voluntarily disclose their STD status to you. You can take control of your sexual health by asking questions, screening new sexual partners, and having open and honest discussions about sexually transmitted diseases.

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Can Hiv/aids Be Prevented

You can reduce the risk of spreading HIV by:

  • Getting tested for HIV.
  • Choosing less risky sexual behaviors. This includes limiting the number of sexual partners you have and using latex condoms every time you have sex. If your or your partner is allergic to latex, you can use polyurethane condoms.
  • Getting tested and treated for sexually transmitted diseases .
  • Not injecting drugs.
  • Talking to your health care provider about medicines to prevent HIV:
  • PrEP is for people who don’t already have HIV but are at very high risk of getting it. PrEP is daily medicine that can reduce this risk.
  • PEP is for people who have possibly been exposed to HIV. It is only for emergency situations. PEP must be started within 72 hours after a possible exposure to HIV.

NIH: National Institutes of Health

What Tests Diagnose Hiv

There are three types of HIV tests: antigen/antibody tests, antibody tests and nucleic acid tests :

Antigen/antibody tests

Antigen tests look for markers on the surface of HIV called p24. Antibody tests look for chemicals your body makes when it reacts to those markers. HIV antigen/antibody tests look for both.

A healthcare provider will take a small sample of blood from your arm with a needle. The blood is sent to a lab and tested for p24 and antibodies to it. An antigen/antibody test is usually able to detect HIV in 18 to 45 days after exposure.

A rapid antigen/antibody test may also be done with a finger prick to draw blood. Youll need to wait at least 18 days after exposure for this type of test to be able to detect HIV. You may need to take the test up to 90 days after exposure for accurate results.

Antibody tests

These tests look for antibodies to HIV in your blood or saliva. This can be done with a blood draw from your arm, a finger prick or with a stick that you rub on your gums to collect saliva.

An antibody test can take 23 to 90 days after exposure to detect HIV. Antibody tests done with a blood draw can detect HIV sooner than those done with saliva or blood from a finger prick.

Nucleic acid tests

NATs look for the HIV virus in your blood. A healthcare provider will take a small sample of blood from your arm with a needle. The blood then is sent to a lab and tested for HIV.

  • Viral hepatitis screening.

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Getting Tested For Hiv

HIV testing is important. Someone living with HIV who isnt getting treatment can still transmit the virus, even if they have no symptoms. Others may pass the virus to others through an exchange of bodily fluids. But todays treatment can effectively eliminate the risk of transmitting the virus to a persons HIV-negative sexual partners.

According to the CDC , antiretroviral therapy can lead to viral suppression. When someone with HIV can maintain an undetectable viral load, they cant transmit HIV to others. The CDC defines an undetectable viral load as fewer than 200 copies per milliliter of blood.

Taking an HIV test is the only way to determine whether the virus is in the body. There are known risk factors that increase a persons chance of contracting HIV. For example, people whove had sex without a condom or shared needles may want to consider seeing their healthcare professional about getting tested.

How Long Does It Take To See The Signs Of Hiv

how many days hiv symptoms shows (after how many days hiv symptoms start to appear)

The signs and symptoms of HIV may first appear within two to four weeks of infection. The stage in which the symptoms appear is called the stage of acute HIV infection. The symptoms appear due to the resistance or fight of the immune system against HIV. In the initial stage, the virus multiplies rapidly and spreads throughout the body. It targets and destroys the CD4 cells . As a result, the level of HIV in the blood and the chances of transmission at this stage are very high. It is crucial to recognize the early signs and seek medical help, since early diagnosis and treatment of HIV gets the best results.

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Lack Of Symptoms In Early Stages

ARS is common once a person develops HIV. But this isnt the case for everyone as, according to HIV.gov, symptoms may not appear for a decade or longer.

Although the virus replicates quickly in the weeks after contracting it, symptoms in early HIV only tend to show up if the rate of cell destruction is high.

This doesnt mean that cases of HIV without symptoms are less serious or that an asymptomatic person cant transmit the virus to others.

Whats The Difference Between Hiv And Aids

The difference between HIV and AIDS is that HIV is a virus that weakens your immune system. AIDS is a condition that can happen as a result of an HIV infection when your immune system is severely weakened.

You cant get AIDS if you arent infected with HIV. Thanks to treatment that slows down the effects of the virus, not everyone with HIV progresses to AIDS. But without treatment, almost all people living with HIV will advance to AIDS.

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