There are no symptoms of HIV infection in most people. Some might experience Acute HIV Syndrome 3-6 weeks after exposure. These flu-like symptoms include fever, headache, nausea, tiredness, diarrhea and enlarged lymph nodes.
It takes approximately 6 weeks for production of antibodies for the standard HIV antibody test results to be considered accurate. The ELIZA test is an HIV antibody test that is very sensitive. The Western Blot is a HIV-specific confirmation test done with ELIZA sometimes. Results take 5-10 days. The OraSure test is a combination of the ELIZA and western blotting tests done on oral swab. A Rapid Test/OraQuick is a pinprick test where preliminary results are available in 30 minutes.
Treating HIV can be done with Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy (HAART): Entry Inhibitors, Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (Nucleoside, Non-Nucleoside, Nucleotide), and Protease Inhibitors.