Are Bronchitis And Pneumonia Symptoms Of HIV?
Was it a 4th generation test?
Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome,
Do you know what type of HIV test you had? Many places now use the Fourth Generation Test which tests for both antibodies and antigen. This test can show an HIV infection in most people, 2 to 6 weeks after infection.
Typical symptoms of the initial infection are typically some of the following symptoms: fever, rash, headache, feeling generally unwell, aches and pains, mouth ulcers, sore throat, night sweats, weight loss, tiredness, swollen glands, and neurological symptoms.
Bronchitis and pneumonia are not typical early symptoms. Pneumonia can occur in AIDS, but is not a typical initial HIV symptom.
Bronchitis and pneumonia are more common in people with allergies, asthma, and definitely in people who smoke cigarettes. But it can occur in other situations as well.
You can rest easy if you go and have another HIV test done at this point.
I hope this information helps. Please let me know if I can provide further information.
About info from the internet
Detailed Answer:
The thing about information on the internet, even from quality sources for lay people like Mayo and Web MD are that they don't talk about how likely or how often symptoms or diseases occur. They are usually just a general description of all things possible.
But know this: initial symptoms of HIV are flu-like. Pneumonia is not flu-like. It is a very specific infection that can be seen on X-ray. So I doubt that your pneumonia was an initial symptom of HIV.
Sounds like a good plan.
Detailed Answer:
Yes, get another test, but try not to be worried about it as with the first test being negative, the likelihood that you have HIV is quite low.
Best regards,
Bonnie Berger-Durnbaugh, MD