Course of the infection

HIV no longer inevitably leads to AIDS. If the HIV infection is diagnosed early, HIV medications can stop the progress of the disease.

Many people, however, first find out about their HIV infection when they become seriously ill. In the first months or years, there are few or no noticeable signs of the virus. If you have been exposed to a risk of infection, you should have an HIV test to determine whether you have been infected.

Untreated HIV infection progresses differently from person to person. Often, flu-like symptoms appear shortly after the initial infection. Then, for a long time, nothing may be noticeable. But during this time, the virus continues to replicate in the body.

Finally, the body's defense, the immune system, is badly weakened and the person suffers from more and more infectious illnesses. But even at this stage, HIV medications can stop the course of the infection and the immune system can recover.