It is important to understand that HIV is a virus and the early stages of HIV infection will include the symptoms common to most viral infections, much like flu. The early signs of HIV infection, while not experienced by everyone infected for the first time include, headaches, nausea, fatigue and runny stomach with the likelihood of swollen glands.

The reason for the symptoms to present much like the flu is that in the early stages of infection there is a high concentration of the virus as it spreads through the body and your body is beginning to fight the virus. At this stage of infection, the likelihood of passing on the virus is very high and should there be no reason for you having the flu, it is highly recommended that you get an HIV test.

The most important thing to do if there is any chance that you have contracted HIV is to get tested and if the virus is present to begin a course of ARV treatment. The sooner treatment starts the more chance there is of beating the virus and preventing it from developing into full blown Aids. In some people the symptoms may not be evident for weeks, months or even years but as time progresses and your body produces massive amounts of new CD4 cells to counteract the virus’ production and infection, which occurs at a similar rate to your bodies ability to produce CD4 cells, the virus begins to take over and is able to produce more infected cells.

The seemingly common viral infection may very well be HIV and we cannot stress the importance of regular HIV testing more. Treatments for the HIV virus are well advanced and if detected early and treatment commences early enough your chances of living a full life carrying the virus and never developing full blown Aids are improved dramatically. HIV is no longer a death sentence and as medical science scrambles to produce a cure for HIV, you should be taking care to minimise the effects of the virus. There are patients who have lived longer than 30 years carrying the virus and there is a very good chance that there will be a cure for HIV in the foreseeable future.