October 3, 2008

HIV-Positive People Living Longer Than Ever Before

The number of HIV-positive people living in the United States increased 11 percent from 2003 to 2006, which experts attribute to life-prolonging antiretroviral therapy, Bloomberg News reports.

According to a study published in the October 3 edition of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the HIV-positive population rose from an estimated 994,000 in 2003 to 1.1 million in 2006. A separate study published in The Lancet in July found that combination therapy, introduced in 1996, extended the life expectancy of newly infected 20-year-olds by 13 years. They’re now expected to live, on average, to age 69 (HIV-negative people in the industrialized world generally live to be 80).

The CDC expects HIV cases “to keep increasing over time as treatment prolongs the lives of infected people and new infections outpace deaths,” said Richard Wolitski, acting director of the agency’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention.

Search: longevity, antiretroviral, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, CDC, Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, living longer

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Previous Comments:

Chris, Richmond, Va., 2008-11-21 14:54:46
I just attended a support group locally--the first I've been to in a long time. And it made me realize how vital connecting poz people is for our community. The more we avoid this disease, the wider it spreads and the more isolated we become. The web could and seems to be helping greatly in this respect, but poz people are the only ones who can change perceptions in the general public. We need to come out and show others that we are still healthy, vital, nonthreatening and responsible.

lee chew, new york city, 2008-11-01 14:26:36
i facilitate an hiv positive support group for men who are over 50. email me if you have any questions. thanks. lee chew

Thorner, New York, 2008-10-28 09:00:21
There is a disconnect with the American Public Health system. Nearly 30 years into this HIV epidemic and we are still seeing 40,000 to 50,000 new infections in the USA annually. Plenty of treatment options (there is profit there), plenty of new patients (also much profit there). But no cure and no end to new infections!

Marcos, São Paulo-Brazil, 2008-10-24 09:06:15
I´m pozy since last year but infected probably 3 years ago.Not in meds yet.Recently my 7 y.o. nephew has surprised us with type 1 diabetes.Since then I can´t avoid comparing me to him in terms of living with a cronic disease. All I can say is that God or some 'positive' force blessed us for living in a time with insulin and ARVs.Side effects will probably appear.But so what?We gonna fight them with the same enthusiasm we had to fight the disease itself until good news from Medicine come out.

Misha, La Ciotat, France, 2008-10-10 12:05:32
In 1982, I caught HIV, hep. B and C and only used alternative medecines and buddhism to overcome all my health problems, and I was feeling great working as a freelance photographer. But when I arrived in France in 1994, I started seeing excellent specialists and I was told I would die if I didn't take their pills...I started them 1997, it wasn't easy! Felt worse! Had lived 10 years of solitude, but found love in '97 and a healthy 9 year old today! VISUALISE yourself healthy! Today, I'm happy

David, San Francisco, 2008-10-09 11:28:47
I've been POZ since the mid 80's and have remained health, thanks to something. My viral load is undetectable and CD4 over 900. There must be several strains of HIV for all my friends of the 80's have died. Perhaps it's that I'm too bad to die or that I've something else I'm supposed to do for the world. The positive outlook, I know has helped and lack of guilt for being gay lets me speak out against bigotry and homophobia. Perhaps just knowing that I am as human as I choose to be.

Albert, Ottawa,ON, 2008-10-09 09:01:07
The following from a previous comment sums it up very well "It's great people are living longer with HIV. Drug companies are sucessful at making still more money. However for the person living with HIV they are living a splendid isolated life. No more support groups no way of meeting other people living with HIV." There is still a great deal of stigma associated with HIV and in Canada access to required meds is still difficult/impossible depending on which province one lives in.

Christina, Dayton, WA, 2008-10-08 18:27:13
I have had HIV since I was 15yrs old. I am now 30. Since then I have had 2 kids both kids don't have HIV! I've been blessed. My recent blood work showed that my Viral load is undetectable and my CD4's are at 1088 this is the 1st time in 12yrs that it's been over 800-900! Again through prayer, support, and meds I plan to make it a long time!!!!!! I to get so rapped up in life that I don't think about HIV til it's time to take my seizure and HIV meds!!! I believe Gods had my back!!!

Joe, Los Angeles, 2008-10-08 14:26:36
One must not let the virus consume them mentally or physically. For me the first step was acknowledging the personal role I had in getting infected. Next was doing hours and hours of tense study about HIV and treatment options. I had to change my lifestyle, stop drinking so much and place more emphasis on health maintenance (not an easy task for someone in their 20s). Sometimes I am so busy with living that I forget I have HIV, until I have to take those pills.

John, Chicago, 2008-10-08 00:52:52
I've had HIV/AIDS for almost 12 years and am doing quite well on the meds. My viral load has been undetectable for 11 years and my CD4's stay in the 500 range. No side effects from the meds except a little controllable diarrhea. I was below 100 CD4's at diagnosis and losing weight rapidly. I work full time as a Police officer and have great insurance. I'm on a once a day regimen. I'm feeling fine most the time.

Thomas, Dallas, 2008-10-07 13:11:27
So many HIV- people try to convince HIV+, 4 years on HAART and nothing but traumas, rhabdo, Kidneys, Liver, Heart, these drugs are nothing but TOXIC, life on HIV meds is no picnic, these people should try taking this stuff themselves

Gary, Kentucky, 2008-10-07 11:27:57
Like the previous commentors, I'm living an AIDS dx with longevity much due to behavior change and HAART. As a Public Health analyst, I've seen recently emerging trends of increasingly acute and dual infections especially among the population that was born in a world with HIV. Complacency in HIV awareness/prevention has become the by-product of not knowing how to address these pockets of the population. I assure you that PH is not asleep at the wheel, rather perplexed on which way to turn.

Catherine Donarumo, New Jersey, 2008-10-07 10:55:33
We, the population, has to be more responsible in educating the non-infected. HIV should be a topic that is on people's tongues like cancer, and heart disease. I, too, have HIV for twenty years and I have never been on medication. I live a happy and protective life. I am now considering meds because of my white blood cell count and my constant battle with Asthma and bronical.

paul, New York, 2008-10-07 09:50:00
This month marks 20yrs since I found out I was poz. Probably had it for 5yrs by then. so I'm living with HIV nearly 25yrs and am as healthy as ever, only older. I don't agree that Public Health is asleep at the wheel. I think PH officials are trying to figure out how to keep the threat of HIV relevant to people who never lived through the worst of it and never saw someone with KS or PCP or any of the OIs that used to kill us. It's hard to make people care about something they haven't seen.

thorner Harris, new york, 2008-10-07 08:40:00
It's great people are living longer with HIV. Drug companies are sucessful at making still more money. However for the person living with HIV they are living a splendid isolated life. No more support groups no way of meeting other people living with HIV. Drug manufactures and our Public Health system have failed to provide secondary prevention measures, to help protect the uninfected from the infected; who are living longer with fewer or no symptoms. Rx comp. have no motivation & P. H. sleeps.