Severe diseases in the late phase of HIV infection
HIV disease progresses in different stages and can present itself clinically in very different ways. Once the acute stage has subsided, the disease can be controlled and run without symptoms or can progress to stages B and C. The stages are characterized by the occurrence of so-called opportunistic diseases. These are primarily infections with pathogens that would not have caused an infection in immunocompetent individuals or would have been less symptomatic.
These include fungal diseases of the mouth and oesophagus, chronic diarrhea, tongue coating by viruses, reactivation of viruses with painful skin rashes and numerous other diseases. All bacterial, viral or parasitic pathogens can lead to symptomatic infections with sometimes considerably aggravated symptoms due to the increasing immunodeficiency of the HIV infected person. Stage C is followed by particularly severe opportunistic diseases, which is why one speaks of AIDS at this stage.
These can sometimes be accompanied by neurological symptoms such as changes in character, epilepsy, neuropathies, paralysis and emotional disorders. Pneumonia, for example caused by tuberculosis pathogens, is also a frequent occurrence in this stage. Malignant tumor diseases can also be a consequence of HIV disease.
Over time, they can affect all organs and lead to very variable symptoms and complaints. In the following, the most important opportunistic diseases that are favored by the HIV virus are named. Kaposi’s sarcoma is a malignant tumor, which belongs to the so-called “AIDS-defining diseases”.
This refers to diseases that clearly indicate that the HIV disease is in its final stage. In Kaposi’s sarcoma, within a short period of time many tumours spread widely throughout the body and can be attributed to a group of herpes viruses. The HIV disease favours the subsequent degeneration of affected cells, which can lead to the formation of nodules on the skin and all organs that are strongly supplied with blood.
Kaposi’s sarcoma is dependent on the immune status and HIV disease, which is why the treatment of cancer is mainly directed against HIV infection. As a rule, Kaposi sarcoma is not curable. Pneumonia is a common and dangerous condition, which is a dreaded companion disease to HIV infection.
Pneumonia is caused by simple respiratory tract infections, which can occur frequently, especially in the winter months, even in immunocompromised individuals. However, due to the immune deficiency of an HIV patient, the inflammation can spread to the deep respiratory tract and the lungs. This leads to high fever, coughing and often to life-threatening blood poisoning.
The risk of pneumonia must always be taken into account in HIV-infected patients, as it is one of the most frequent causes of death in immunocompromised patients. Therapeutically, it should be noted that the HIV disease can also cause unusual germs behind the pneumonia, for example the tuberculosis pathogens. Neuropathy is a disease of the nervous system that is not caused by accidents.
Various opportunistic infections that can occur in the context of HIV disease manifest themselves in the nervous system. Neuropathy can be caused by opportunistic pathogens, by the HIV virus itself or as a side effect of medication. Typical symptoms are slowly ascending sensations in feet and hands.
Often the symptoms are limited to the trunk of the body and migrate steadily towards the trunk.As a late consequence, the musculature in the affected area may even fail. Dementia is a psychiatric disorder that can be caused by changes in the brain. Typically, only senile dementia is known, but neurological diseases and infections of the nervous system can also cause dementia.
The HIV virus itself can accumulate in the brain and lead to HIV dementia and structural changes in the nerve cells. The symptoms of this are reduced intelligence and cognition, slowing down, depression and motor disorders. However, dementia can also occur as a result of opportunistic infections caused by the immune deficiency.
Infections that affect the nervous system, among other things, are for example “toxoplasmosis” or “cryptococcal meningitis“. These infections can cause severe damage to the central nervous system. With early treatment, the symptoms can be reduced.
