PLATFORM : Don’t Give Up

Until recently, testing positive for HIV was perceived by many people to be a death sentence. But now we have the capability to monitor the progression of the virus and start early intervention with anti-viral drugs.

HIV is like other diseases that have no known cure but are treatable. But there is probably more misinformation and misunderstanding about HIV and AIDS.

People with any risk of being infected should be tested. This virus takes seven to 10 years from infection to onset of symptoms, and people are still showing up at the doctor’s with pneumocystis pneumonia, one of the opportunistic infections that can kill. But that disease is now 98% preventable.

The critical group is the 1 1/2 million infected people in the U.S., most of whom don’t know they’re infected. If you’re HIV-positive, have your immune system tested. If it’s failing, early intervention treatment should be started.