Symptoms

Stage 1: No Symptoms - In the first stages of HIV, the symptoms don't show up. People can live with AIDS for years without knowing it. Blood tests at the doctor will show antibodies after they form to fight the AIDS virus, but it takes the antibodies three months to show up. That means that if you take a blood test right after you have sex, the virus won't show up for another three months.

Stage 2: Mild Illness - At this stage, the virus grows within the white blood cells and destroys them. When most of the cells are destroyed, the immune system is destroyed and the body weakens. Some symptoms they might form are: they begin feeling tired, loose weight. They may develop a cough, diarrhea, fever, or sweating at night. With HIV a cold is more threatening to them than to a person without the disease.

Stage 3: Severe Illness - By this time, the AIDS virus has nearly destroyed the body's immune system. The body has great difficulty fighting off germs. Also, patients can develop a rare type of cancer called Kaposi's sarcoma. AIDS doesn't kill anyone, but other infections and cancer do.