Unfortunately, when it comes to tracking down the signs and symptoms of HIV, people should not rely upon these alone to determine whether they have the infection. Indeed, the only way to be sure whether or not you have HIV, is to get tested by a healthcare professional.

While there are numerous signs and symptoms of HIV that you may notice, these can often vary from one person to the next, depending on which stage of the disease you are in, and yourself as an individual. For instance, HIV moves through the early, clinical latency and late stages, and during this time symptoms can differ drastically.

The Early HIV Stage

With four weeks of infection with HIV, many people begin to suffer from a collection of symptoms that they often describe as being similar to having the flu. This particular set of signs and symptoms for HIV is known as ARS or acute retroviral syndrome – and it makes up the natural response of the body to the HIV infection. Signs of ARS can include fever, fatigue, sore throat, swollen glands, muscle and joint ache, rashes and headaches.

Typically, these symptoms last anywhere between a couple of days and several weeks. However, it's worth noting that you shouldn't simply assume you have HIV just because you're struggling with a few of these symptoms. After all, the signals mentioned above can be signs of various other illnesses.

If you believe that you may have been exposed to HIV, the best thing that you can do is get a test, which checks for antibodies made when your body contracts the HIV virus. Remember that it takes a few weeks for the body to begin producing these antibodies so testing too early may lead to inaccurate results. What's more, during the early stage, you are highly at risk of transmitting HIV to others, which is why it is crucial to reduce your risk of transmission.

The Clinical Latency Stage

Following the earliest stage of HIV infection, the disease can move onto another stage, known as clinical latency. During this period the signs and symptoms of HIV seem to all but disappear completely.

Though it is still active at this stage, HIV often reproduces at low levels during the clinical latency stage and with the right therapy, patients can live healthily in this stage for numerous decades.

AIDS Progression

If you're not on antiretroviral therapy and you have the HIV infection, then the virus will eventually weaken your body's immune system, allowing the disease to progress into AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), which is the latest stage of HIV. Symptoms here can be vast and varied, but often include recurring fever or profuse night sweats, rapid weight loss, unexplained or extreme tiredness, diarrhea that lasts for a long time, swelling of the lymph glands, and pneumonia. Other people suffer from sores around the mouth and genitals, as well as purple, pink, brown, or red blotches under or on the skin. Other symptoms may include a number of neurological disorders, such as depression, and memory loss.