HIV is in the spotlight and hopefully that means less ignorance

Charlie Sheen’s decision to speak out has put HIV in the spotlight — and while getting people talking is undeniably a positive thing, it’s also highlighted that there’s still a lot of ignorance around the condition. Abi Jackson reveals, however HIV can be managed to avoid serious illness    

CHARLIE SHEEN’S revelation, that he’s been living with HIV after being diagnosed around four years ago, came just weeks before December 1 — World AIDS Day.

So what does it mean to be diagnosed with HIV in 2015?

COULD I HAVE HIV AND NOT KNOW IT?

Yes — an estimated 1,800 people in Ireland are living with HIV and do not yet know it. Being infected with HIV does usually cause symptoms, but that doesn’t mean that everybody will think, or want, to go to their doctor and get tested.

“Research shows that the majority of people who are newly infected with HIV do experience symptoms that we call primary infection.

Those are often flu-like symptoms — fever, aches and pains, headaches, sore throat, tiredness — and some people have a distinctive rash, with symptoms usually present within the first few weeks of infection,” explains Sarah Radcliffe of the National AIDS Trust.

“So we’d say at that point, people should go and ask for a test if they think they may have been exposed to HIV — but obviously not everyone will recognise those symptoms as possibly being HIV. From that point onwards, after the first few months, someone can live quite a while without noticing any physical impact, for years in fact.”

Crucially, it’s in the very early stages — when there’s lots of virus in your system and the immune system is trying to fight it off, causing you to feel unwell — that HIV is most infectious.

I’M WORRIED I MIGHT HAVE HIV BUT I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO...

If people are worried they might have HIV, the most important thing for them is to get tested. If you do have HIV, being diagnosed means you can then start treatment, and get access to any support you might need.

“Once they start treatment, HIV is very unlikely to have any serious impact in terms of long-term health,” says Radcliffe.

“Also, people can go on to have children, who will almost certainly be born without HIV. People living with HIV on treatment are highly unlikely to develop serious complications and AIDS-related illnesses, and their life expectancy is the same as anyone else’s.”

WILL BEING DIAGNOSED WITH HIV RUIN MY SEX LIFE?

Most new HIV cases are caused by having unprotected sex (without a condom) with somebody who’s infected.

However, even if you do have HIV, treatments have come a very long way since those terrifying awareness campaigns of the 1980s. While HIV can’t be cured, antiretroviral drugs now mean the presence of the virus can be reduced to such a degree that the chance of spreading it to somebody else is very low.

WILL I BE DESTINED TO GET SERIOUSLY ILL?

No — as well as significantly reducing the risk of transmission, HIV treatments now mean it’s highly unlikely that anybody diagnosed (providing they have access to treatments) will develop serious complications due to the virus.

AIDS-related illnesses are now wholly avoidable. Without treatment, over time — often a number of years — the virus may begin to cause health problems.