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1. How do I know whether I should get tested for HIV?

Consider getting tested if:

Many people do not develop any symptoms when they first become infected with HIV. Some people, however, have a flu-like illness within a month or two after exposure to the virus. This illness may include fever, headache, fatigue, and enlarged lymph nodes (organs of the immune system easily felt in the neck and groin). These symptoms usually disappear within a week to a month and are often mistaken for those of another viral infection. During this period, people are very infectious, and HIV is present in large quantities in genital fluids.

HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is the virus that causes AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). By killing or damaging cells of your body's immune system, HIV progressively destroys your body's ability to fight infections and certain cancers. People diagnosed with AIDS may get life-threatening diseases called opportunistic infections, which are caused by microbes such as viruses or bacteria that usually do not make healthy people sick.

More than 700,000 cases of AIDS have been reported in the United States since 1981, and as many as 900,000 Americans may be infected with HIV. There are as many as 275,000 who may not know they are infected and can pass the virus on.