What are the HIV Signs & Symptoms in Women

The body fluids are responsible for transferring HIV infection from person to person. This usually includes semen, vaginal fluid or infected blood. The risk of HIV increases when people have unprotected or anal sex with any infected partner. The unsterile drug usage is also one of the common factors for HIV transfer in people. The use of infected syringes and needles increase the risk. Women usually get affected by HIV due to anal or unprotected vaginal sex. As per records, women are more prone to being affected by HIV than men.

As per the reports, several of women every year are tested to be HIV positive. The rate of men being affected by HIV is gradually decreasing while that of women is increasing.

Symptoms in Women

Since the early symptoms of HIV are same as that of mild fever, many women tend to ignore it. This increases the risk of being severely affected. It can also be one of the most common risks for developing AIDS.

Some of the most common HIV symptoms experienced by women include the following

●     abnormal appearance of the smears

●     Frequent breakouts of the vaginal infections

●     Development of pelvic infections like pelvic inflammatory disease (PID).

These symptoms appear in the early stage and are easy disregarded to be normal breakouts. However, if you continuously experience these symptoms, you should prefer consulting your doctor. There is no shame in admitting that you are affected. It is better to diagnose it and determine for it will let you be in the safe side.

The other symptoms of being affected by HIV include

●     Genital warts

●     Genital ulcers

●     Severe mucous herpes infection

Many women are prone to various genital infections due to unhygienic conditions and unprotected sex. But the problem can become worse if they are affected by HIV too. The normal genital infections are cured by medicines but if one is affected by HIV, the infections will continue to break out. The formation of ulcers near the anus and vaginal will become more prominent.

Most women are also exposed to fever like symptoms such as feeling nauseous, headache and being tired all the time. These symptoms become prominent just in a few weeks of being infected. If not there are very rare chances of any prominent symptoms appearing after being affected.

If the disease progresses, it starts to give out other symptoms or indications too such as

●     Swollen lymph glands around the areas such as neck, groin or underarm

●     Frequent sweating and fever gradually causing night sweats

●     Sudden weight loss without following a proper diet

●     Regular breakout of diarrhea

●     Appearance of white blemishes around the mouth.

Apart from it, some of the women even experience continuous skin rashes and itching. All these symptoms are signs of HIV. However, they may indicate other diseases too. As a result, when you notice such symptoms you should consider contacting the doctors. They may schedule a test and help you find out whether you are affected by HIV or any other sexually transmitted disease.

HIV and Pregnancy

Pregnant HIV positive women can transfer the disease to their fetus during childbirth or breastfeeding. As a result, all the mothers are tested for HIV before delivery. If the women is tested positive, several measures are taken such as antiviral to prevent the child from being affected. Apart from it, many also prefer carrying out the cesarean birth to protect the kids.

Severe HIV symptoms in Women

If HIV is not treated in time and ignored, it increases the risk of developing AIDS. Usually people let it go off as untreated and develop AIDS. Some of the common symptoms of women suffering from AIDS include

●     Nausea

●     Vomiting

●     Rapid and sudden weight loss

●     Constant fever

●     Frequent breakout of vaginal infections

●     Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID)

●     Coughing

●     Night sweats and more

If you notice any such symptoms, you should immediately rush to a doctor and look for potential signs to treat it. A little bit of ignorance can increase the risk of death.

In addition to your own physician, your local health department, STD clinic, or family planning clinic can help you get tested. To find a testing clinic near you click here.