With about 50,000 new cases of HIV every year in the United States, and the possibility of not showing symptoms for 3-6 months, early detection by getting tested for HIV its important. Learn more about the symptoms of HIV from Dr. Sabrina Kendrick, Director of the Ruth M. Rothstein CORE Center & getSTDtested.com. How do I know if I have HIV? There are about fifty thousand new cases of HIV per year in the United States. HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. It also affects the immune system and causes the immune system to become susceptible to infections. Initially, someone who is exposed to HIV may not have any symptoms at all and this may happen over a period of three to six months, after which time the body begins to recognize the virus and develops antibodies. At that time, they will have these flu-like illness and symptoms that will go away and then after the symptoms go away they will not have any symptoms at all and that can go from ten to fifteen years without having any symptoms, but the disease process does advance from HIV to AIDS over this time period and then the patient may present with fever, weight loss or wasting, diarrhea, and maybe even pneumonia.