There are no common symptoms for individuals diagnosed with AIDS. When immune system damage is more severe, people may experience opportunistic infections (called opportunistic because they are caused by organisms which cannot induce disease in people with normal immune systems, but take the “opportunity” to flourish in people with HIV). Most of these more severe infections, diseases and symptoms fall under the Centers for Disease Control’s definition of full-blown “AIDS.” The median time to receive an AIDS diagnosis among those infected with HIV is 7-10 years.