60% of gay men unaware of HIV symptoms

I guess I was one of the 60%. I never thought there was an actual "triad" of symptoms (fever, rash, sore throat). I guess in my mind, the symptoms were always something like full-blown AIDS-type stuff, like lesions were the symptoms. These symptoms seem so commonplace to me that they are easily missed.

Sixty per cent of gay men are unaware of the symptoms of early HIV infection, a large-scale survey has found.

According to the research by National AIDS Trust, most of the men surveyed could not name the ‘triad’ of a sore throat, rash and fever as the most common symptoms occurring together.

Between 70 and 90 per cent of people experience symptoms soon after HIV infection but fewer than one in ten respondents were aware of this.

While 31 per cent said they would go to the doctor if they experienced the symptoms, 28 per cent said they would wait to see if the symptoms go away.

NAT says the findings are worrying because early detection of HIV means the best chances for health in future.

Seventy-six per cent of respondents had had an HIV test and 16 per cent of respondents were HIV positive.

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