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Early symptomatic HIV infection

• Overview
• Symptoms
• Treatment
• Prevention

Alternative Names:

AIDS-related complex - ARC; Chronic symptomatic HIV infection

Symptoms:

• mouth disorders
  • oral hairy leukoplakia of tongue, caused by a viral infection 
  • oral thrush (a yeast infection of the mouth)
  • gingivitis
• prolonged diarrhea
• skin disorders
  • seborrheic dermatitis
  • molluscum contagiosum
  • chronic dermatophyte infection ( fungal infection of the skin or nails)
• swollen lymph glands
• sweating, excessive -- night sweats
• bacterial pneumonia
• prolonged fever
• prolonged fatigue
• malaise (vague feeling of discomfort)
• weight loss
• joint pain
• peripheral neuropathy
• pap smear that shows cervical dysplasia
• recurrent herpes zoster -- herpes infection that occurs over a very small patch of skin
• a rare disease called ITP (idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura) -- where the number of platelets in the bloodstream is very low

Signs and tests:

• HIV ELISA/Western blot positive for HIV antibodies

Lab tests that indicate immune system suppression include:

• CD4 lymphocyte count decreased
• CBC , WBC less than 4,000
• platelet count less than 100,000
• skin test anergy -- no response to special skin tests used to test for infection or immune function

• Review Date: 2/13/2006
• Reviewed By: Monica Gandhi, M.D., M.P.H., Assistant Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, UCSF, San Francisco, CA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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