Can you have HIV for 5 years and not know?

Can you have HIV for 5 years and not know?

Some people have HIV for years before they know they have it. According to HIV.gov, symptoms of HIV may not appear for a decade or longer. This doesn’t mean that cases of HIV without symptoms are less serious. Also, a person who doesn’t experience symptoms could still transmit HIV to others.

Can you have HIV for 10 years and not know it?

You may not have any symptoms at all for up to 10 years. At that point, HIV begins to make it hard for your body to fight off infections, so you can get infections that normally wouldn’t affect you. When your immune system reaches a certain point of weakness, that’s when HIV becomes AIDs.

How long can a HIV patient live without treatment?

Once a person progresses to AIDS, they have a high viral load and can transmit HIV to others very easily. In the absence of treatment, people with AIDS typically survive for about three years.

What happens if a person with HIV does not take medication?

Taking your HIV medication every day, exactly the way your health care provider tells you to will help keep your viral load low and your CD4 cell count high. If you skip doses, even now and then, you are giving HIV the chance to multiply rapidly. This could weaken your immune system, and you could become sick.

What happens if my HIV test is negative 3 months later?

If you get an HIV test within 3 months after a potential HIV exposure and the result is negative, get tested again in 3 more months to be sure. If you learned you were HIV-negative the last time you were tested, you can only be sure you’re still negative if you haven’t had a potential HIV exposure since your last test.

How often should you get tested for HIV?

CDC recommends everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 get tested for HIV at least once. People at higher risk should get tested more often. If you were HIV-negative the last time you were tested, the test was more than one year ago, and you can answer yes to any of the following questions, then you should get an HIV test as soon as possible:

What happens if I Stop Taking my HIV medication?

HIV medicine can make the viral load so low that a test can’t detect it (called an undetectable viral load). If your viral load goes down after starting HIV treatment, that means treatment is working. Continue to take your medicine as prescribed. If you skip your medications, even now and then, you are giving HIV the chance to multiply rapidly.

What should I do if my HIV test result is positive?

If you had a rapid screening test, the testing site will arrange a follow-up test to make sure the screening test result was correct. If you used a self-testing kit at home, a positive HIV test result must always be confirmed by additional HIV testing performed in a health care setting.