Other symptoms may also appear such as tiredness, joint pain, muscle pain and swollen glands. The symptoms usually last 1-2 weeks, but can be longer. They're a sign that your immune system is putting up a fight against the virus. After the initial symptoms disappear, HIV may not cause any further symptoms for many years. During this time, the virus continues to be active and causes progressive damage to the immune system. Once the immune system becomes severely damaged, other symptoms may occur such as swollen lymph nodes, weight loss, chronic diarrhea, fever, night sweats, cough, skin problems and recurrent infections.
Without treatment, the person can also develop serious life-threatening illnesses such as tuberculosis, cryptococcal meningitis, severe bacterial infections and cancers such as lymphomas and Kaposi's sarcoma, among others.
