Is Hair Loss A Symptom Of Hiv

Syphilis And Hair Loss

Syphilis is a bacterial infection that is spread via sexual contact with an infected person. Syphilis has different stages of development, with each stage having varied symptoms.

The first stage starts with a painless sore on the genitals, mouth, or rectum. The sore usually disappears on its own, ushering in the second phase, which is characterized by rashes. After this stage, the symptoms remain dormant until the last phase, which can appear after years.

While the symptoms of the initial stages do not directly link to hair loss, still syphilis can cause a hair loss condition known as the syphilitic alopecia.

Syphilitic alopecia is a known syphilis-related hair problem. It is characterized by diffusely thin hair on the whole scalp or patches that appear like moth-eaten on the head. Once a person is diagnosed with syphilitic hair loss, they will be put on medication for the underlying syphilis causes, which will take around three months to start showing healing results.

The medication often involves at least two courses of prescription-only oral antibiotic drugs. Remember, the final stage of syphilis can cause serious health complications such as brain, nerves, heart, and eye damage if left untreated.

Can My Syphilis Hair Loss Be Treated

If an individual is diagnosed with secondary syphilis then treatment can be provided. And although hair loss may have occurred, it will grow back once your bodys immune system has returned to 100%. It is worth noting however, that in some cases hair will not begin to grow back until the patient has lost all of their previous hair.

Is Hiv A Cause Of Hair Loss In Aging Adults

Relating extreme hair loss to HIV is a question that puzzles many people. Hair loss used to occur as a side effect of select HIV medicines that are in use very rarely nowadays in antiretroviral therapy. If you are tested HIV positive and are experiencing hair loss, it may not be directly associated with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. In fact, the thinning of hair on the scalp can be a sign of aging or may occur in people due to several reasons other than HIV.

HIV patients may be prone to Telogen effluvium, although medical science is yet to fully uncover the symptoms of the condition. Telogen effluvium refers to a state of no hair growth or a resting phase of a hair follicle. It may occur in an aging adult when the hair stops growing for a long period. As a result, the hair starts to fall as and when new hair starts to grow prematurely, pushing the resting hairs out of the scalp.

Telogen effluvium can occur due to mental or physical stress, an infection, a chronic illness, or even protein deficiency in the body. They are all causative factors to the condition, which can be related to HIV indirectly. For instance, medical studies have revealed that a minority of patients suffering from alopecia may characterize immune disorder symptoms. Apart from that, people with HIV tend to have other STDs at times as well, and one such sexually transmitted disease, known as syphilis, leads to hair loss.

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Other Symptoms That Help With Diagnosis

You may also experience a range of other symptoms if your hair loss is caused by an underlying condition.

• Hypothyroidism may cause anything from fatigue to weight gain, muscle weakness to joint swelling.
• Ringworm may cause scaly and painful gray or red patches on the scalp.
• Celiacdisease may cause anything from mouth ulcers to headaches, skin rashes to anemia.
• Hodgkinsdisease may cause symptoms like fever, night sweats, and swelling of the lymph nodes.

Your doctor will take into account the other symptoms youre experiencing besides hair loss to help pinpoint the cause. This may involve anything from a physical examination to blood tests to scalp biopsies.

Some conditions, like celiac disease, may be genetically inherited. If you have a family history of a condition that leads to hair loss, be sure to mention it to your doctor.

What Are The Stds That Cause Hair Loss

STDs like many dangerous diseases are threatening in large part because of their ability to hide in place sight. Indeed, most STDs can remain asymptomatic for long periods of time. Its entirely possible for someone to have an STD and not realize it. Whats more, when STD symptoms do appear, they may mimic other, more innocuous conditions. One of them is hair loss. Today, well take a closer look at the STDs that cause hair loss and explain what you can do to protect your well-being:

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How Can You Tell If You Have Hiv

The only way to know for sure if you have HIV is to get tested. You cant rely on symptoms to tell whether you have HIV.

Knowing your HIV status gives you powerful information so you can take steps to keep yourself and your partner healthy:

• If you test positive, you can take medicine to treat HIV. People with HIV who take HIV medicine as prescribed and get and keep an undetectable viral load can live long and healthy lives and will not transmit HIV to their HIV-negative partners through sex. An undetectable viral load is a level of HIV in the blood so low that it cant be detected in a standard lab test.
• If you test negative, you have more HIV prevention tools available today than ever before, like pre-exposure prophylaxis , medicine people at risk for HIV take to prevent getting HIV from sex or injection drug use, and post-exposure prophylaxis , HIV medicine taken within 72 hours after a possible exposure to prevent the virus from taking hold.
• If you are pregnant, you should be tested for HIV so that you can begin treatment if you’re HIV-positive. If you have HIV and take HIV medicine as prescribed throughout your pregnancy and childbirth and give HIV medicine to your baby for 4 to 6 weeks after giving birth, your risk of transmitting HIV to your baby can be less than 1%. HIV medicine will protect your own health as well.

Use the HIV Services Locator to find an HIV testing site near you.

Stage : Acute Hiv Infection

Within 2 to 4 weeks after infection with HIV, about two-thirds of people will have a flu-like illness. This is the bodys natural response to HIV infection.

Flu-like symptoms can include:

• Swollen lymph nodes
• Mouth ulcers

These symptoms can last anywhere from a few days to several weeks. But some people do not have any symptoms at all during this early stage of HIV.

Dont assume you have HIV just because you have any of these symptomsthey can be similar to those caused by other illnesses. But if you think you may have been exposed to HIV, get an HIV test.

Heres what to do:

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Different Kinds Of Stress Can Cause Hair Loss

If youve been under emotional or physical stress, it may lead to hair loss. Things like a death in the family, major surgery, or a serious illness may cause the body to shut down certain processes like hair production.

Theres around a three-month delay between when a stressful event happens and when you might see hair loss, so you may not pinpoint the trigger right away.

However, if you are experiencing thinner hair, consider different events or situations in your life that may have caused you considerable stress. Hair loss due to stress is generally temporary. Hair may begin growing again after the event has passed and the follicle starts producing again.

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Treatment For Hair Loss

Most of the time, hair loss caused by any of the problems mentioned above is temporary. Its important to remember that in the case of TE, hair falls out because new hair is growing in.

In severe cases of hair loss, steroid injections may promote hair growth. Topical creams may also spur growth.

Outside of hair loss thats caused by natural aging, changing medications and getting proper nutrition can help prevent hair loss.

How Is An Hiv Infection Treated

HIV cannot be cured. The main goal of treatment is to improve your health. The second goal is to slow the progression from HIV to AIDS. Your healthcare provider will decide your treatment based on your CD4 cell and viral load counts. Tell him or her if you ever had an allergic reaction to or other problem with any medicine. You may need any of the following:

• Antiretroviral medicines slow the progression of HIV. They are given in different combinations called highly active antiretroviral therapy . Your healthcare provider will decide what kind of HAART you need. You may need to make HAART changes if you have severe side effects or develop resistance to a medicine.
• Antimicrobial medicines kill or prevent bacterial, viral, or fungal infections.
• Preventative medicines may be given to protect you from opportunistic infections. These are illnesses that develop because your immune system cannot fight the bacteria or viruses that cause them. Examples include toxoplasmosis, Pneumocystis pneumonia , and tuberculosis.
• Vaccines may help prevent the flu, pneumonia, hepatitis, and other infections.

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How Does Hiv Affect The Scalp

People who have HIV find it difficult to fight off everyday infections and illnesses. HIV hair loss can occur as a result of diseases that damage the immune system.

For instance, patients with HIV commonly develop seborrheic dermatitis, which is an autoimmune response. This condition is a form of dermatitis that occurs in those areas of the body where there is more sebaceous glands activity.

This can cause redness, itchiness and flaky scales on the scalp. Inflammation can also occur as a result. Here too, HIV hair loss occurs indirectly.

Antifungals and steroids are used for treatment. It can be difficult to treat it in patients with HIV. Their weak immune system can lead to repeated skin problems due to any stress.

Which Stds Cause Hair Loss

Its worth noting that hair loss is not a particularly common symptom of STDs. Only two STDs HIV and syphilis are known to cause hair loss. And even then, hair loss is not a typical symptom of either. Yet, these infections do occasionally cause hair loss. As such, its important for all sexually active individuals to realize that hair loss could be linked to a serious STD.

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Effective Hair Loss Treatments

Hair loss caused by stress or hormonal changes, like pregnancy or menopause, may not require any treatment. Instead, the loss will likely stop on its own after the body adjusts.

Nutrient deficiencies also dont often require medical treatment beyond supplements, unless the deficiency is caused by an underlying health condition. And any medical conditions that lead to hair loss should be treated directly to address the full condition, not just its symptoms.

That said, there are a number of possible medications and treatments for hair loss caused by female-pattern baldness and other alopecias. You may need to use one or a combination of treatments for months or years to see the full results.

Names Of The Five Profiles

Based on the results of LPA and comparing demographic and health-related characteristics and symptom networks, the five profiles were named as follows: Profile 1: medium symptom severity with low functional status, Profile 2: all low symptom severity, Profile 3: medium symptom severity with syndemic conditions, Profile 4: medium symptom severity in transitional period, and Profile 5: all high symptom severity.

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Does Hiv Cause Hair Loss

HIV doesnt directly cause hair loss in people living with the condition. However, hair loss is a natural part of getting older for many people. Genetics and hormonal changes with aging are the most common causes of hair loss.

Because of the advancements in treatment for HIV, the life expectancy of people living with HIV receiving treatment is nearly the same as for those without the condition. So, more people with HIV may experience the typical age-related hair loss because they live longer than people with HIV did in the 1980s and 1990s.

Is There Anything Else I Should Be Aware Of Regarding Syphilis

While both the primary and secondary stage of syphilis will see symptoms disappear on their own, the underlying condition can continue and if left untreated to progress into the latent stage, during which the patient is no longer contagious, but can begin to affect the heart, brain, nervous system and bones, weakening them and occasionally pushing the individual into the tertiary stage or neurosyphilis.

Luckily, not all patients even without treatment proceed into the final stage of neurosyphilis, but those who do will undoubtedly have found themselves ill enough to be formerly diagnosed.

Neurosyphilis can lead to issues with the limbic system and nervous system, causing involuntary muscle spasms that can have a huge negative effect on everyday activities. It is also likely to reduce the transition of electrical signals within the nervous system causing widespread numbness, and even blindness as the nerves behind the eyes begin to deteriorate. At this point, the affect on the nervous system can be so great that it interferes with brain function, often causing early onset dementia and often death.

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Profile : Medium Symptom Severity In The Transitional Period

Profile 4 was named the transitional period and described a subgroup of PWH who recovered from opportunistic infections and comorbidities and transitioned to the all low status. For PWH in this profile, their symptom network was sparse, and only symptoms within the clusters were highly correlated. Unlike Profile 2, cognitive symptoms, such as memory loss, were the core symptoms in Profile 4. This finding indicates that cognitive impairment in the transitional period may be mainly caused by HIV rather than ART side effects. Bandera and colleagues found that the level of cognitive impairment could be an indicator of the scale of HIV replication in the central nervous system when viral load could not be detected in blood,. HIV in the brain can further infect monocytes and lymphocytes that migrate and produce monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, which could damage the structure of the hippocampus and lead to memory loss. Nonetheless, the concentration of ART in the central nervous system is low owing to the existence of the bloodbrain barrier,. Therefore, it is recommended to use ART regimens with higher central nervous system penetration effectiveness scores, such as regimens with nevirapine, zidovudine, and indinavir/r. In PWH with a long time since HIV-positive diagnosis, it is important to perform cognitive screening during routine follow-up visits.

How Is Hiv Diagnosed

An HIV antibody test, either from a blood sample or an oral sample , can tell whether you have been infected. A negative test result means no HIV antibodies were found. This usually means you are not infected. However, if you engaged in behavior that could spread the virus within three months of having the test, antibodies may not be detectable and you should be re-tested. A positive test result means antibodies to HIV were found. This means you are infected with the virus and can pass HIV to others even if you have no symptoms. You are infected for life. Even if you think you have a low risk for HIV infection, consider getting tested whenever you have a regular medical check-up.

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Te Or Telogen Effluvium

Characterized by the shedding or thinning of hair, TE or telogen effluvium is a scalp disease that can be a result of a chronic condition, infection, or physical stress. Emotional stress also causes the said condition to happen. Add to that the deficiency in Vitamin D, which is extremely necessary for the continuity in the normal hair cycle.

How is this disorder related to HIV? As mentioned, one of the triggering factors of TE is an infection, which can include the human immunodeficiency virus. People who have been diagnosed with HIV are prone to getting telogen effluvium.

Noninfectious And Nonmalignant Cutaneous Manifestations Of Hiv Infection

For xerosis, emollients and dry skin care regimens are effective. For seborrheic dermatitis, coal tar, sulfur, and salicylic acid shampoos topical corticosteroids topical tacrolimus and 2% ketoconazole cream may be effective.

For psoriasis and Reiter syndrome, ultraviolet B and psoralen with UV-A may be useful. Systemic corticosteroids, methotrexate, and cyclosporine may increase the immune suppression and must be considered only with careful monitoring. Zidovudine is also reported to be useful in the treatment of HIV-associated psoriasis.

For pruritic papular eruption, topical steroids, UV-B, PUVA, and pentoxifylline have been reported to be effective. Eosinophilic folliculitis may respond to UV-B, isotretinoin, or zidovudine treatment. For severe aphthous stomatitis, tacrolimus is reported to be effective.

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