25 years since they announced the discovery that HIV caused AIDS....

[Portofino]

BBC link here

"Around 24 million people have died from Aids since it first emerged and it is the leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa"

This has made me think of the old "Tombstone" adverts from my teenage years
where we were all terrified of catching it. And yet all this time later, I don't think I have (knowingly at least)come across anyone affected by HIV, either personally or with friends/partners/families etc.

My only personal brush with the subject was the HIV test during pregnancy. But I'm curious if I'm alone in this?

Nope, your experience is the same as mine, pretty much exactly. I also remember the tombstone ads .

Being terrified of catching it is one of the best ways to prevent it spreading - if you're scared, truly scared, you're more careful.

Hence education programmes in the west have been quite successful as the process is accepted and bought into by the population.

It's also possible that you have met people with HIV but drugs these days to control and manage it are amazingly good if taken correctly.

Its so sad . I too remember the tombstone ads. Does anyone know about life expectancy now with the current drugs? I am very ignorant of AIDS aside from having a boss who passed away from it in the early 90's (he was a very young man in his early thirties and a lovely guy) It has been horrendous to all those who have been affected.

My thoughts are with all those and their families who are affected by it.

Being terrified of catching it may only work with a certain sector of hte population though. And is more realistic in wealthy society - in Africa, where the choice is to be a sex worker and feed your child, or not, then the fear campaigns would have little effect.

I've met and worked with several people living with HIV (but work in a related field) - the drugs have now controlled the virus in some people for approx 20 years. You wouldn't know by just meeting them.

I have known many people, including children who had HIV or AIDS - none at the moment. But I had at least 2 colleagues die from AIDS in Zimbabwe (I say "at least" as cause of death was often not given as AIDS but of something else)

Ruby .

To convince the population you have to have a campaign that actually speaks to them. That hasn't worked so well in Africa in the most part because the campaigns weren't taken seriously by the population.

That's seperate to the sex worker thing - if you were employing the services of a sex worker and you had been effectively scared by the campaigns, you'd insist on a condom. Totally see your point from the sex worker's point of view though.

I'll never forget one little girl who attended the "special school" that I volunteered in for a short time. She was deaf but had no other learning difficulties as many of the other pupils at the school did - she could have had a bright future ahead of her. But the most beautiful little girl who used to run to either me or my fellow gap student when we arrived for cuddles.

She was about 5yrs old and had the most beautiful eyes. Not long after we started working there we were informed that she was HIV positive. I didn't work there long, but when I went back to visit not long before I left she was no longer at the school and was told that she had developed AIDS and was too ill to attend school.

No doubt she has since died as this was 10yrs ago

Oh FAQ - that is so sad! Without meaning that anyone "deserves" to get such a terrible illness, it seems so unfair that little children should be affected.

yes was very sad - broke my heart to think that this lovely little girl in front of me most probably wouldn't survive to adulthood because of it, and even worse when I discovered that she had developed AIDS.

I also remember sitting in the staffroom at the school I worked in, over 100 teaching staff, many of them very talented teachers, realising that the figures said that 1/4 of them would be infected with HIV

Did some research on UK Statistics:

"An estimated 77,400 people were living with HIV in the UK at the end of 2007, of whom more than a quarter (28%) were unaware of their infection.

In 2007, there were at least 7,734 new diagnoses of HIV, contributing to a cumulative total of 97,423 reported by the end of June 2008.

There have been 24,118 diagnoses of AIDS in the UK. At least 18,324 people diagnosed with HIV have died, and at least 80% of these deaths followed an AIDS diagnosis"

The use of HAART (Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy) has proved effective in delaying HIV associated deaths and the onset of AIDS. This resulted in a steep decline in the number of AIDS cases reported each year between 1994 and 1998. Since then the number of cases has remained more or less constant, averaging around 800 per year. The annual number of deaths has hovered around 500 since 1998, having peaked at over 1,700 in 1995.

High risk groups:

Africans in UK (rate of 3%, as opposed to 0.2% in general population)

Men who have sex with men

Intravenous drug users.

A total of 8,831 children born in the UK to HIV infected mothers had been reported by the end of June 2008. Of these, 816 had been diagnosed with HIV infection. Including children born in other countries, there have been 1,661 UK diagnoses of HIV in people who acquired the virus from their mothers.

The number of children born in the UK to HIV positive mothers more than doubled from 100 during 1991 to 254 during 1999, and then quadrupled to 1,165 during 2007. However, the proportion of such babies infected with HIV has fallen sharply since the widespread introduction of antiretroviral therapy and other interventions, which can dramatically cut the chances of HIV transmission from mother to child.

Is it really 25 years ? In someways it feels like a fraction of that time, in others like it was so, so long ago.

I've met a few people with HIV/AIDS in my work

I feel like that when i listen to Duran Duran!

The new drugs are so effective now that if diagnosed HIV+ at 20 or so, life expectancy would be at least in the 60's (still not great but much, much better than 10 years ago).

Patients can now take just one tablet once a day if they like.

The concern now is how the virus itself and being on the drugs may affect other processes in the body, some drugs are known to increase risk of cardiovascular disease whilst the virus itself is linked to increased cardiovascular disease and neuro-cognitive disorders such a dementia. This is more of a problem with an ageing HIV+ population which is in itself a relative luxury as up until 1996/97 people with HIV weren't expected to reach old age.

It is truly amazing what has been achieved in the field of HIV medicine, helped in no small way by the very powerful gay lobbyists.
People like the terrence higgins trust also think that HIV in a way helped gay rights as it forced gay people to get together as a group and fight for better treatment/rights.
Their powerful voice is now (indirectly)helping address the problem in Africa and African groups here.

this all came out in my last year of uni so there were a lot of people who were a bit worried after 3-4 years of being on the pill/sleeping with women on the pill rather than using condoms. At least our DCs will know of the risks.

Salvadory - thanks for your post. One of my bfs is HIV+. Having lived through the phase where there was little treatment and friends "disappeared" into the illness and then death, his becoming positive has been something of a shock.

It was odd to discover how little we knew of the changed landscape and what to expect with the new treatments. People keep telling us that the new treatments are so recent that we are pretty much finding out as we go along; so much will depend upon his response to his own treatment.

FAQ - that is really heartbreaking. I had no idea you had worked in Africa. I really do hope, that in some way, the treatments and conditions available in the West will somehow become prevalent in Africa.

cherry/salvadory - thanks for sharing your experience! It's great that there is so much more hope now, and that people can look forward to a life after HIV diagnosis. Sadly, some how I can't see the expensive drugs making their way to Africa. Education there is surely the most effective method? It's frustrating that the Pope still feels that he knows best.

cherry, sorry - thought last post sounded a bit "blase". I see what you mean about the shock. A generation of people who suffered this illness with no hope. A generation of people who changed their behaviour to avoid the risk.

I have to admit, I've been with DH for 10 years, but if i was out there and met nice bloke, I would not be thinking about HIV.

I have a friend who has AIDS, he contracted HIV in the 1980's and as one of his doctors has said could possibly be the longest be the longest living person who has contracted this terrible disease.

I have lost friends to AIDS, I have close friends with HIV.

In the 80s I worked with gay men affected by HIV/AIDS - I remember the panic and horror of those days very well.

Hard to believe it's 25 years.

Those tombstone ads definatley worked - I was 9 in 1987 and I knew that you used a condom if you had sex else you might get HIV, before I knew what a condom or sex were!

Five - that's amazing. I guess he must be a bit of a medical miracle? Not much of a consolations for him though. If he has now developed AIDS does he have a prognosis?

Problem is that the education doesn't help those that are already infected with HIV/AIDS - 4 million going by the official figures of 25% infected, although recent reports suggest the figure could be down to 15%........due to the recent Cholera outbreaks - which obviously would have affected those with a reduced immune system the worst.