Stage three of the disease is when an infected individual begins to exhibit opportunistic infections and CD4 count falls below 500/ ml. The final and heightened stages of HIV infection are often described as full-blown AIDS, wherein the immune system is significantly damaged. The symptoms of this stage include chronic symptoms like rapid weight loss, serious fever (reaching temperature of 100 degrees F), soaking night sweats, chronic diarrhea, vomiting, dry coughs, short breaths, distorted vision (often Cytomegalovirus retinitis) (Strachan et al.74). Lesionsalso occur on the body, tongue and or mouth areas (candidiasis and periodontal disease). Skin rashes also often appear mostly due to herpes simplex and varicella zoster virus infections
