Many friends often fear getting AIDS after having high-risk behaviors, especially the initial acute symptoms after infection, and often like to “put themselves in the right place”. So, when do the acute symptoms of HIV infection occur? What are the acute symptoms like?
The virus mainly attacks human CD4 cells. After a large amount of virus is replicated in the local lymph nodes, the virus is released into the bloodstream, which takes about a week, so the virus nucleic acid can be detected in the bloodstream after a week of infection at the earliest, that is, the viral load as we say. Most people can detect HIV P24 antigen and HIV antibodies, after the infection to be able to detect the time to test the blood will get normal results, we call this period is the window period, simply put the window period is infected with HIV, but can not detect the time of HIV antigen and antibody.
Virus replication into the blood system, to various organs, is the period of viraemia, this period most people will have acute phase symptoms, acute phase symptoms usually maintain 1 ~ 3 weeks, even without treatment, the symptoms will gradually disappear, and then HIV-infected people will enter the asymptomatic period, asymptomatic period almost completely asymptomatic, a few people may have swollen lymph nodes, and then if the infection has not been detected, and Without treatment, after 5 to 10 years of asymptomatic period, HIV-infected people will progress to the AIDS stage.
Most of the acute symptoms are due to the high viral load in the body, so theoretically, viral nucleic acid and P24 antigen can be detected in the blood during this period. If CD4T lymphocytes are checked at this time, you may see a decrease in CD4 cell count, an inverted CD4/CD8 ratio, and possibly a decrease in white blood cells and platelets, similar to many other viral infections.
Specifically, the symptoms in the acute phase are fever (usually 38.5°C or higher), sore throat, swollen lymph nodes, rash, night sweats, vomiting, diarrhea, skin rash, joint pain, swollen lymph nodes, mouth ulcers, weight loss, and some people will have neurological symptoms such as headache and dizziness. The symptoms of the acute phase of AIDS are indeed similar to those of influenza, so if someone says they have flu-like symptoms after high-risk behavior, they should be alert to whether they are infected with HIV. Generally speaking, the symptoms last longer and are more severe than those of the flu, and it is a “severe flu” feeling. Some people call it “infectious mononucleosis-like”. Infectious mononucleosis is caused by EBV infection, and the symptoms of hospitalization are high fever, sore throat, swollen lymph nodes, and rash.
Based on our clinical experience in treating HIV-infected patients, the most common symptoms in the acute phase of HIV infection in China are fever, diarrhea, swollen lymph nodes, rash, and generalized aches and pains, which are flu symptoms combined with acute gastroenteritis symptoms.