The initial symptoms and signs of HIV are imprecise and common to other diseases, so they are not helpful for the diagnosis of HIV infection. Generally, the first signs of hiv appear like the flu (fever, body aches and malaise), sometimes accompanied by signs such as red spots (rash) and increased the size of the nodes in different parts of the body (lymphadenopathy).
In emergency departments and family practice offices, people come in with symptoms like fever, headache, muscle and joint pain, sore throat, rash and diarrhea. In response to these symptoms, physicians diagnose the flu and send the patient on their way. In the majority of cases, their diagnosis proves correct.