The information on this site is intended for healthcare professionals in the United States and is not intended for the general public.
The information on this site is intended for healthcare professionals in the United States and is not intended for the general public.
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HIV-infected individuals with AIDS may experience a variety of symptoms. Clinical features of AIDS may include weight loss, fever, swollen glands, or diarrhea. When the CD4-cell count drops very low, the immune system weakens and becomes more susceptible to AIDS-defining illnesses, such as Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP), Kaposi’s sarcoma, and serious weight loss, known as wasting syndrome.
In the advanced stage of HIV infection, the level of HIV in the blood increases rapidly and the CD4-cell count declines to very low levels.
As soon as the CD4-cell count falls below 200 cells/mm3, a diagnosis of AIDS is made. However, the presence of an opportunistic infection, such as PCP, is also a sufficient basis for an AIDS diagnosis, even if the CD4-cell count is higher than 200 cells/mm3.
