What are clinical symptoms? (HIV / AIDS)

AIDS is a syndrome and its symptoms vary between individuals and according to the prevalent opportunistic infections. Diagnosis should be done by trained or expert health workers, based both on symptoms and test of HIV antibodies in the blood.

Clinical stages for a HIV positive person (WHO Classification)

Stage I

1. Asymptomatic

Or persistant generalized Lymphadenopathy

Lymph nodes or glands are part of the body’s immune system. They are located in different part of the body: under the jaw, the neck, the armpit and the groin. A frequent early sign of AIDS is painless bumps or swellings, called “persistent generalized Lymphadenopathy” (PGL), of one centimeter diameter growing in these lymph nodes. Lymph node enlargement can also occur in mumps, glandular fever and Tuberculosis.

Performance stage 1:: normal activity and asymptomatic (or Lymphadenopathy)

Stage II

1. Weight loss 10% inferior of usual weight

2. Minor dermatose (seborrhoea Dermatite, Candidiasis (thrush),angular Cheilitis)

3. Herpes zoster within previous 5 years

4. Recurrent upper respiratory tract infections (bacterial sinusitis for instance)

Performance stage 2: normal activity and symptomatic

Stage III

1. Weight loss 10% superior of usual weight

2. Unexplained chronic diarrheas (7 to 15 stools per day) for longer than one month

3. Unexplained prolonged fever for longer than one month (intermittent or constant)

4. Oral Candidiasis

5. Oral hairy Leukoplakia

6. Pulmonary tuberculosis within the previous year

7. Severe bacterial infections (Pneumonia, Pyomyositis)

Performance stage 3: confined to one’s bed less than 50% of the day during the last month.

Stage IV

1. Cachectic syndrome : HIV wasting syndrome

2. Pneumocystis Carinii Pneumonia

3. Cerebral Toxoplasmosis (Paralysis, visual disturbances, abnormal mental manifestations, Meningitis)

4. Cryptosporidiosis. Unexplained chronic diarrheas (7 to 15 stools per day) for longer than one month

5. Extrapulmonary Cryptococcosis

6. Cytomegalovirus disease of an organ other than liver, spleen or lymph node

7. Herpes simplex virus infection mucocutaneus

8. Progressive multifocal Leukoencephalopathy or HIV Encephalopathy

9. Any disseminated endemic Mycosis

10. Disseminated or pulmonary atypical Mycobacteriosis

11. Non-Typhoid Salmonella Septicemia

12. Extrapulmonary Tuberculosis

13. Lymphoma, Kaposi’s sarcoma

Performance stage 4: confined to one’s bed more than 50% of the day during the last month.

Before coming to a diagnosis of AIDS, doctors look at a variety of symptoms and tests. Doctors will look for one of the opportunistic infections or cancers in the presence of underlying immune deficiency. They might, for instance, do tests to try to seek a positive diagnosis of PCP, a type of pneumonia. These tests are normally only available if you have already been diagnosed as HIV antibody positive, or sometimes if you are seriously ill.

(source: hm magazine)