The incubation period of AIDS refers to the time from the start of HIV infection to the appearance of signs and symptoms of AIDS. It takes 0.5 to 20 years after infection, with an average of 7 to 10 years to develop into the AIDS stage.
The length of the incubation period depends on the number and type of viruses infected, the route of infection, the immune status of the body, nutritional conditions and living habits. Some people who have not developed the disease may remain hidden for a long time or even for a lifetime and become HIV carriers. The HIV virus is contained in the blood, semen, vaginal secretions, breast milk and organs of HIV-infected people in the incubation period, which is infectious.
I. Approximate duration of incubation period Since the first case of AIDS was reported in the United States in 1981, AIDS has spread widely around the world, posing a serious threat to human health. Although a lot of research has been conducted worldwide on the prevention and treatment methods of AIDS, no effective preventive drugs and cures have been obtained so far. Therefore, the study of the length of the incubation period from infection to the onset of AIDS is of great importance for understanding the natural history of AIDS, evaluating the effectiveness of treatment, and making epidemic predictions.
Over the past 30 years, a large number of studies have been conducted on the incubation period of AIDS in response to different surveillance data from surveillance systems, and a variety of different methods have been proposed. Different methods have yielded different data on the incubation period of AIDS, and the results obtained for the incubation period of AIDS are generally in the range of 8-9 years.
So far, except for a very few unconfirmed individual reports, there is no verifiable information proving the existence of HIV incubation periods shorter than 1 year or up to 20 years.
The scientific criteria for determining the incubation period The incubation period of AIDS is the time between HIV infection and the time when HIV destroys the T4 lymphocytes of the human immune system to the point where they are insufficient to maintain the normal functioning of the immune system leading to the onset of disease.
The hallmark of this is a large decrease in CD4+ cell count. The so-called AIDS symptoms to determine the incubation period of AIDS, which are currently promoted by a large number of domestic websites, are not serious and unscientific. It can be seen that the time of the so-called AIDS incubation period is judged by whether the CD4T cell count in the blood drops enough to cause immune deficiency.
The most common clinical symptoms of AIDS patients are recurrent low-grade fever (about 72%), accompanied by chills, emaciation, fatigue, weight loss (up to 5-22 kg), followed by extreme drowsiness and weakness, and inability to support usual physical activities. Chronic diarrhea is also a very obvious early clinical manifestation in some people with AIDS. And the cause of fever, diarrhea and weight loss is often not found. According to the analysis of the clinical manifestation characteristics of 38 cases of AIDS, all the above symptoms and signs accounted for more than 80% of the total number of cases.
2. Swollen lymph nodes The incidence of swollen lymph nodes ranges from 55% to 100%. Although the enlarged lymph nodes are generalized, they are mostly found in the posterior neck, submandibular or axillary lymph nodes. The enlarged lymph nodes are nonfused, hard, and occasionally painful to pressure, with no surface skin changes. The degree of lymph node enlargement correlates with the level of HIV antibody titers in the serum. In addition, lymphoma associated with AIDS, including burkitts lymphoma, immunoblast lymphoma and Hodgkin’s disease can also occur.
Skin lesions The skin and mucous membranes are one of the main sites of AIDS attack. Many patients with AIDS have skin damage as their first symptom. There are various clinical manifestations, such as rash, generalized itching, condyloma, contact warts, urticaria and so on. However, the most characteristic skin lesions are the skin changes of Kapozi’s sarcoma and other signs of damage.