The bizarre HIV symptom that you’ve never heard of – and 7 other signs
A TEEN developed a giant lump next to her eye due to HIV and AIDS, in a bizarre case reported by doctors.
The 16-year-old had turned up to an eye hospital in Saudi Arabia with a large “lesion” on her right upper eyelid – which was obscuring her vision.
After inspection, doctors believe the mass was molluscum contagiosum (MC), a common viral infection which can cause small spots on the skin.
But this particular spot was unusually large in size – 1.5cm in diameter – and so further investigations were conducted to discover the underlying cause.
Most MCs range in size from one to five mm in diameter, the NHS says.
Routine blood tests revealed the teen had HIV which had developed into AIDS.
HIV is a virus that damages the cells in the immune system and weakens the body’s ability to fight everyday infections and disease.
When HIV is left untreated, it typically turns into AIDS in about eight to ten years.
When AIDS occurs, the immune system has been severely damaged and leaves suffers more prone to developing diseases that wouldn’t usually cause illness in a person with a healthy immune system.
Her body was unable to fight the virus and that is why the MC lesion had grown so uncontrollably big, the doctors wrote in Cureus, Journal of Medical Science.
“In HIV patients, single or multiple lesions can be found on the face, neck, or genitals, and are rarely widespread in the body or the eyelids.
“In addition, HIV patients may exhibit atypical presentations such as a giant MC, as a cutaneous correlate of a deteriorating cellular immunity, a late manifestation of HIV infection,” they explained.
Doctors decided to removed the mass for cosmetic reasons and referred the patient to the infectious disease department for HIV treatment.
Six months after the surgery the mass had not re-emerged but the HIV had worsened, doctors said.
The young patient did not disclose how she contracted the disease, which is typically sexually transmitted or passed on during birth.
The other signs of HIV
Most people infected with HIV experience a short, flu-like illness that occurs 2-6 weeks after infection.
After this, HIV may not cause any symptoms for several years.
According to the NHS, the most common symptoms are:
- raised temperature (fever)
- sore throat
- body rash
- tiredness
- joint pain
- muscle pain
- swollen glands
If the HIV is left untreated, it can leave the immune system severely damaged.
When this happens, the following symptoms can emerge:
- weight loss
- chronic diarrhoea
- night sweats
- skin problems
- recurrent infections
- serious life-threatening illnesses