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What are the symptoms of HIV?

hiv symptoms hiv test hiv testing

Many individuals considering an HIV test will do so because they are worried about risk of infection and believe they may be showing HIV symptoms. HIV is a virus that enters the body through an exchange of bodily fluids and then like any virus produces a reaction within the body. This can be a typical viral reaction such as flu like symptoms or more sever such as fevers and rashes or it may produce no symptoms. At some stage, normally around 4-12 weeks the body will produce antibodies to the HIV virus. At this stage a 3rd generation HIV test will return a positive result regardless of whether HIV symptoms are present or not.

So let us look at what are the HIV symptoms and more importantly why they are not adequate for a diagnosis and an HIV test is needed.

Two useful sites for reading are Health.com

16 Signs You May Have HIV - Health.com

And the Mayo clinic

HIV/AIDS: Symptoms - MayoClinic.com

As you can easily see the majority of possible HIV symptoms can also be associated with the common cold and of course no HIV symptoms at all may show. The only way to diagnose HIV is to take an HIV test that in general will test for the HIV antibodies. In Australia you can purchase an HIV test from online suppliers such as Head Start testing, see https://buystdtestkits.com/ or visit a health centre or STD testing clinic in Australia. See http://www.afao.org.au/about-hiv/hiv-test#where for more information on where you can take an HIV test in Australia.



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