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I think you mean HIV. AIDS != HIV.
Following initial HIV infection, the virus does the more or less normal virus thing. Your body does the more or less normal thing, too, and mounts an immune response and fights the infection. The HIV test tests for the antibody generated during this immune response (this is why you can test HIV(neg) for 6 months or more following infection.
The quirk is that HIV can infect immune cells... so even though your immune system will clear it out of the rest of your body, it can't get rid of the infected immune cells. Over time the infection builds while simultaneously weakening the immune system. This is the so-called "incubation period".
The line drawn between "HIV Infection" v. "Full Blown AIDS" is pretty arbitrary. Part of the clinical definition of AIDS is a white blood cell count of less than a certain amount (cannot remember at the moment the specific type of cell or the specific number... I think it was a TC-4 of less than 300, but don't quote me on that).
Anyway. Yes, HIV has an "incubation period". The length depends on the strain of HIV you're infected with (there are at least seven), the severity of the initial infection (this has nothing to do with whether it was needles or sex or blood transfusion. This refers to when the virus first takes hold before your body mounts an immune response to beat it back into submission), and the general strength and robustness of your immune system overall.
The most important factor, though, is economic. If you can afford the groovy new drugs, you can basically keep AIDS at bay indefinitely. If you can't afford them, so sorry.
Short version:
1) Yes. It varies.
2) Yes. It varies.
3) Yes.
4) Yes, when they run out of money.
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Simple Machines in Higher Dimensions
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