Why Can You Live Longer With HIV Today?
By A Effective HIV treatment HIV virus production is suppressed to the point where it cannot be detected in the blood using standard testing methods. As a result, HIV transmission is avoided.
Read this article on how good and long life is possible today with HIV.
When the viral load is below the detection limit
If the viral load is below the detection limit and undetectable in the blood, an HIV-positive person is no longer contagious to HIV-uninfected people. A so-called peer review came to this conclusion five years ago. In the study, couples with different HIV statuses were monitored and interviewed regularly for a total of four years. They had unprotected sex, but the infection was zero. In a follow-up study, the Partner-2-Study, only homosexual men participated in committed relationships. Of the 972 couples where one partner was HIV-positive, not a single infection was acquired through unprotected sex.
However, scientists continue to warn against unprotected sex. The risk of contracting other sexually transmitted diseases is very high, especially if you change sexual partners. The number of infections for gonorrhea (“gonorrhea”), syphilis and HPV (human papillomaviruses) has risen sharply again in recent years, especially in Western countries.
Image: “Testing HIV Positive: Living with the Virus”
With the medicine you are no longer contagious
A long-term study shows that patients with HIV infection should undergo treatment. 2008 was settled Publication of “Swiss Reports”. A great motivational campaign. The discovery that HIV treatment prevented further spread of HIV infection was a huge relief to many and motivated those infected to start treatment. Before 2008, it took an average of more than a year to start treatment for patients with an HIV diagnosis, a period that became increasingly shorter in subsequent years. Today, almost all patients begin treatment immediately after finding out about their diagnosis. Once diagnosed, HIV can be prevented from spreading further.
Author: Florian Friedrich
Psychiatrist in Salzburg / Hamburg
(Existential Analysis)