{"id":6074,"date":"2021-06-01T12:00:43","date_gmt":"2021-06-01T12:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/?page_id=6074"},"modified":"2022-01-09T15:42:17","modified_gmt":"2022-01-09T15:42:17","slug":"symptoms-and-seroconversion","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/testing\/symptoms-and-seroconversion","title":{"rendered":"Symptoms and seroconversion"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>Q: What is seroconversion?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong>A: Seroconversion is the period when immune responses to HIV <\/strong><strong>develop throughout the body.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This is usually 1-3 weeks after infection.<\/p>\n<p>Up to 4 out of 5 people (80%) have symptoms. These symptoms can last for a few days or a few weeks.<\/p>\n<p>But 1 out of 5 people (20%) get no symptoms.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Q: What are symptoms of seroconversion?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong>A: Seroconversion symptoms are often described as like a heavy flu.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>They can also be similar to symptoms of other sexually transmitted diseases. Stress and anxiety can also produce symptoms even when there is no HIV.<\/p>\n<p>The most common symptoms of seroconversion include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Fatigue (tiredness)<\/li>\n<li>Fever<\/li>\n<li>Sore throat<\/li>\n<li>Rash<\/li>\n<li>Headache<\/li>\n<li>Loss of appetite<\/li>\n<li>Aching muscles and joints, and<\/li>\n<li>Swollen lymph glands.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Having only one or two symptoms is very unlikely to be HIV.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Symptoms are NOT a reliable way of diagnosing HIV infection.This is because none of these symptoms, on their own, show that you have HIV.<\/p>\n<p>However, if you get several of these symptoms at the same time <strong>AND<\/strong> you have had a recent risk of exposure to HIV, then this <strong>MAY<\/strong> be HIV.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The only way to know is to test. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>This involves waiting six weeks in the UK. Testing earlier than this involves also taking a second test after 3 months to confirm the result. See:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/testing\/what-is-the-window-period\">What is the window period for an HIV test?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you are worried about HIV, contact a doctor or sexual health clinic.<\/p>\n<p>If you think you may have been exposed to HIV, you can talk about whether testing is appropriate.<\/p>\n<p>The clinic will be able to go through your risk in the detail that is needed.<\/p>\n<p>The \u2018Health services near you\u2019 section of the NHS website includes a sexual health menu to search for clinics by town or postcode.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nhs.gov\">http:\/\/www.nhs.gov<\/a><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Q: What is seroconversion? A: Seroconversion is the period when immune responses to HIV develop throughout the body. This is usually 1-3 weeks after infection. Up to 4 out of 5 people (80%) have symptoms. These symptoms can last for &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":5467,"menu_order":22,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-guides.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6074","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6074\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}