ive been listening to Freddie Mercurys songs on youtube as i think hes brilliant but im just curious about him.......

[biglips]

as i know he died of AIDS-related bronchial pneumonia, but if he had AIDS how come his partner didnt die of it?, or was Freddie not with him that long before he died?

sorry about this but im just curious

protected sex?

His partner could of been HIV + or not; also HIV can be livable with for a very long time with drug treatment before it develops to AIDS.

i wonder how he got it in the first place?

He had AIDS for quite a long time (have a medical friend who was in the know at the time) but he was also with partner quite a long time I believe.

I guess Suzywong has the answer.

He had a very rampant sex life in the 1970s and early 1980s.

I believe he found out he was HIV+ in 1986.

Just because 1 partner has the condition, does not automatically mean that other will catch it.

Perhaps they were practising belt & braces safe sex ?

Perhaps the partner did contract HIV but is living wuth it quite successfully (people with HIV+ can live for 20+ years without any major health issues or it turning to full blown AIDS).

Thats quite early for an HIV diagnosis isn't it; they didn't discover it much before did they?

Protected sex as suzywong said. Also, his partner could be living a healthy fuill life with HIV, plenty of people do.

FM probably contracted HIV at a point when it wasn't very well known/thought about.

IF the partner he was living with at the time of his death did contract HIV - either from FM or from another partner - before FM's death in 1991, it would have been only five years before effective retroviral treatments for HIV became suddenly very available.

Most people in the Western world who develop HIV now have it effectively contained, long-term, by those retrovirals.

Just looked Freddie up on W£ikipedia. Here

According to this article, his partner did test positive for HIV.

We don't at the moment know, obviously, how long the treatments remain effective, but loads of people are living completely 'normal' lives and expect a relatively 'normal' lifespan.

Oh and apparently I was a year out with Freddie's diagnosis. Spring of 1987.

There you go. His partner is HIV+.

Drugs are very effective these days, most of the time.

I did hear, not so long ago, that the folk being newly diagnosed are less likely to be able to be sucessfully managed than those diagnosed in the early years. Apparently the virus has mutated with every new drug and so there are no (or very few) effective treatments for the newest strains of HIV. Those with an early, drug-naive form are much more treatable.

Freddie had a previous relationship with a man who also had a relationship with Kenny Everett.
Freddie and Kenny died of the same strain of AIDS

Oh I love that song 'days of our lives'- was you watching that one on Youtube? always make me cry.

Did any of you ever see that Bug Chasers documentary? It was about people who wanted to become HIV+ - they would advertise for HIV+ partners to get infected. They felt they wanted to belong to the popular subculture that a + diagnosis gives you.

Were they going to fund their treatments themselves or dump it on the NHS?

MI let's just hope they do remain effective!

NHS here, and whatever they use in America? (private?)

thanks dumbledore for the info as now its more clear.

and thanks for everyone

god bless FM

I'm sure those people are a tiny minority scorpio.

I wasn't aware that being HIV+ made you part of a popular subculture?

We get quite a lot of HIV+ health tourists in our NHS Trust as we have better provision than many local Trusts (even though we are not gritty, hardcore, inner city Trust).

wow!! i never knew that macdog