Question

How long can HIV hide before showing symptoms?

21 August 2021. Related: All topics, Living with HIV long-term, Newly diagnosed, South Africa.

How long can HIV hide in one’s body before showing symptoms?

Answer

Answer: Simon Collins

Hi

Thanks for your question.

The range for this is very wide.

Most people – maybe 4 in 5 (80%) get symptoms of early infection. These are usually about 14 days after infection (range about 4 to 21 days). See: seroconversion symptoms.

These range from being mild and flu-like to rare cases when people are hospitalised.

But 1 in 5 (20%) might not get any symptoms at all.

After this, without treatment, HIV can take from 2 to 20 years to cause enough immune damage for symptoms of other infections start to show.

This is why regular routine HIV testing is recommended for people at risk of catching HIV.