What Is an HIV Rash?
Learn what an HIV rash is and how to recognize it in this Howcast video about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Expert: Jane Bogart, M.A.
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Learn how to recognize, treat, and prevent sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) from health expert Jane Bogart, M.A. in these Howcast videos.
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Transcript
"Understanding HIV: What is an HIV Rash? HIV itself, being infected with HIV, is asymptomatic, which means it has no symptoms. So, there is no rash that appears when you're HIV infected and some people might think, well, if I look at someone or I see a rash or I see something on their body, I'll be able to tell that they're HIV positive. That's just not true. The only, only way to know if someone's HIV positive is for them to be tested and for those results to come back positive. There is, however, and this may be what confuses people. Some symptoms that may happen when someone converts from being HIV positive to having AIDS and sometimes the infections that happen with HIV or AIDS or possible side effects from medications could be some sort of rash or it could be an infection, a viral infection or it could be a rare cancer that only occurs in people whose immune systems are impaired. It could be some sort of pneumonia. Those are the things that might happen as opportunistic infections when someone has AIDs. As far as HIV is concerned, there are no symptoms and the only way to know if someone is HIV positive is for them to get tested. "
