Night sweats and HIV symptoms tend to occur more frequently in people who have the virus plus a secondary infection, such as tuberculosis or pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP). Other frequently associated symptoms of HIV may also be due to an underlying infection or disease. Night sweats and HIV symptoms may not present for several years after an initial HIV infection, but most people with the virus do experience fever and night sweats at some point during their infection.

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Once infected with HIV, a person experiences an extremely weak immune system, which places him at significant risk of developing a secondary opportunistic infection. Such infections may not represent a serious threat to otherwise healthy individuals, but these infections can become life-threatening to an individual with the virus.

Prior to night sweats and HIV testing prompted by this and other odd symptoms, a person may never know he is infected with the virus. This is because HIV can lie dormant in an individual’s body for as many as 10 years following an original infection. Usually, by the time an individual begins experiencing night sweats and HIV symptoms, another infection has invaded the body.

While all diseases and viral infections are dangerous to a person with HIV, tuberculosis has become one of the most serious. The symptoms of tuberculosis include fever, cough, fatigue and unintended weight loss. Individuals with a cough caused by tuberculosis often cough up a lot of mucus and, at times, may even produce blood. Night sweats and HIV are often closely associated with one another because of the high rate of tuberculosis infections among individuals with HIV.

Other causes of night sweats and HIV health threats include pneumonia. Specifically, a particular type of pneumonia known as pneumocystis carinii pneumonia is of grave concern to people with HIV infection. This type of pneumonia is actually quite common, but does not usually cause major complications in healthy individuals. In HIV infected persons, however, PCP is one of the most life-threatening infections they can face. Other symptoms include unintended weight loss, dry cough, breathing difficulties, night sweats, and HIV symptoms such as diarrhea, tongue blemishes and swollen lymph glands.

Night sweats and HIV symptoms do not necessarily show up during the early phases of HIV infection. Some patients may live for several years without any signs associated with HIV or with any other secondary infection. For the majority of people recently infected by HIV, however, flu-like symptoms will begin to surface shortly after coming in contact with the virus.