Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Does “Asymptomatic” Mean Without Symptoms For Those Living With Hiv Infection?, Suzanne Willard, William L. Holzemer, Dean J. Wantland, Yvette P. Cuca, Kenn M. Kirksey, Carmen J. Portillo, Inge B. Corless, Marta Rivero-Méndez, María E. Rosa, Patrice K. Nicholas, Mary Jane Hamilton, Elizabeth Sefcik, Jeanne Kemppainen, Gladys Canaval, Linda Robinson, Shahnaz Moezzi, Sarie Human, John Arudo, Lucille Sanzero Eller, Eli Bunch, Pamela J. Dole, Christopher Coleman, Kathleen Nokes, Nancy R. Reynolds, Yun-Fang Tsai, Mary Maryland, Joachim Voss, Teri Lindgren

School of Nursing & Midwifery, East Africa

Throughout the history of the HIV epidemic, HIV-positive patients with relatively high CD4 counts and no clinical features of opportunistic infections have been classified as ‘‘asymptomatic’’ by definition and treatment guidelines. This classification, however, does not take into consideration the array of symptoms that an HIV-positive person can experience long before progressing to AIDS. This short report describes two international multi-site studies conducted in 2003 - 2005 and 2005 - 2007. The results from the studies show that HIV-positive people may experience symptoms throughout the trajectory of their disease, regardless of CD4 count or classification. Providers should discuss symptoms and …