Sexually Transmitted Disease
The Child Abuse Team at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center provides the following table as a guide for health care professionals in interpreting laboratory test results for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV/AIDS).
| Infection Sites | |
Incubation Period
and Symptoms | Signs of illness are delayed for up to six or more years. Symptoms include swollen lymph nodes, failure to thrive, fungal and other infections. |
| Transmission | Infection is spread by contact with infected semen, blood, cervical secretions or human milk. Approximately one in four infants born to mothers with HIV will be infected. Other methods of infection in children include contaminated blood or blood products during transfusion, IV drug abuse or sexual abuse. |
| Diagnostic Tests | Finding HIV antibodies in the blood makes a presumptive diagnosis. Other tests confirm the diagnosis. In infants under 18 months old, other tests are needed if the infant's mother is HIV positive. Tests are often positive within six to 12 weeks after exposure, but may take as long as six months to become positive. |
