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60-year-old German man likely seventh person to be effectively cured from HIV

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Re: 60-year-old German man likely seventh person to be effectively cured from HIV

#21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My "pragmatic" analysis: I once spoke to a primary-care doctor about the risks of getting HIV through sex. The doctor told me that the risk of getting HIV the "typical way" (receiving anal sex) is about 1/72. Thus, for every 72 exposures, the recipient would contract HIV one time. This assumes that condoms are not used, and that the transmitter has an untreated HIV infection, which presumably has a high viral load. T…

> Whether or not you're comfortable having sex with someone who is HIV+ but claims to have an undetectable viral load is a separate question entirely. If someone has HIV, they would have to be extremely suicidal to forego taking the medication that would make them undetectable.

Unfortunately, consistent self-care isn't easy for many people struggling with mental health issues.

Since you don't immediately feel worse after not taking your pill once, it's very easy to slip up if you aren't the most organized / functioning person.

Re: 60-year-old German man likely seventh person to be effectively cured from HIV

#22
post #13
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I understand it, large studies of couples where one partner has HIV with an undetectable viral load and the other does not have HIV have not recorded any cases of transmission through sexual activity. The question of whether it's "impossible" or "extremely unlikely" comes down more to philosophy than anything pragmatic at this point. Transmission through sharing needles we have less confidence around, because ille…

“Got it through sharing needles” was the 90s version of “got herpes from a toilet seat.”

Even these days, when cops accidently pike themselves with needles when dealing with addicts, they go to HIV center for preventative drugs. So that they, a cop who got piked exactly once, do not get HIV.

Re: 60-year-old German man likely seventh person to be effectively cured from HIV

#23
Imagine how farther along we'd be on HIV treatment if we hadn't had someone in the White House who decided HIV was a 'gay people disease' and just shrugged.

Every time I hear someone praise Reagan all I can think about is how sat on his hands and did nothing while a hundred thousand Americans died - 30,000 in the last year of his presidency alone - because of bigotry on the part of him and the Christian Right, who are still to this day screaming that LGBTQ people shouldn't have the same rights as everyone else.

Re: 60-year-old German man likely seventh person to be effectively cured from HIV

#24
post #7
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In this case there are no alternatives, because the patients have leukemia as well as HIV. For most people the current regimens for treating HIV are excellent. They can get the viral load down to undetectable levels, which makes it impossible to transmit. And the side effects are minimal.

Are undetectable levels really impossible to transmit?

https://www.google.com/search?q=aids+tranmission+undetectabl...

Re: 60-year-old German man likely seventh person to be effectively cured from HIV

#25

Imagine how farther along we'd be on HIV treatment if we hadn't had someone in the White House who decided HIV was a 'gay people disease' and just shrugged. Every time I hear someone praise Reagan all I can think about is how sat on his hands and did nothing while a hundred thousand Americans died - 30,000 in the last year of his presidency alone - because of bigotry on the part of him and the Christian Right, who ar…

The people who use patriotism for every reason except actually caring for their fellow citizens.

Re: 60-year-old German man likely seventh person to be effectively cured from HIV

#26
post #20
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grew up in the 1990s with an overwhelming fear of HIV as a teenager. It still feels incredible that the virus is now undetectable and non-transmissible with medication that’s not much of a burden in one’s daily life. A cure for AIDS was much closer than anyone imagined in 1993. When everything seems dark and hopeless, this is one of the examples that always lifts my spirits. Humankind can achieve incredible things…

While looking for something else on San Francisco's heath departments website I found the following two things. In San Francisco Deaths from AIDs dropped 70% from 1996 to 1997. That's in one year it went from a relentless death sentence to manageable chronic. While almost everyone that got HIV in the mid 80's are dead most people that got HIV in the mid 90's are still here. If that's not winning it's close.

10,000 people a year die of AIDS in the US. Not even remotely close to "winning."

I suspect a large portion of those deaths are due to poor sexual education thanks to christofascists, and people who don't get tested regularly because of poor access to family planning and reproductive health, again thanks to christofascists. All because Magical Sky God Said Abortion Bad.

That and people who lose their healthcare and can't afford the meds because this country is the only developed nation in the world which does not treat healthcare like a universal human right, because corporations want to keep using health coverage to keep workers from switching jobs more freely, because they don't want a free labor market.

Re: 60-year-old German man likely seventh person to be effectively cured from HIV

#27
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Whether or not you're comfortable having sex with someone who is HIV+ but claims to have an undetectable viral load is a separate question entirely. If someone has HIV, they would have to be extremely suicidal to forego taking the medication that would make them undetectable.

Sorry to rant a little, but as someone who grew up with HIV in the family, this odd pressure against people who might be hesitant to sleep with someone U=U always feels uncomfortable and manipulative to me. I see it a lot around the internet. The way I was raised, I'm the only person I trust with my sexual health. I would never trust someones word they're tested recently and have unprotected sex with them. I wouldn't…

> this odd pressure against people who might be hesitant to sleep with someone U=U always feels uncomfortable and manipulative to me.

That's because you're a probably a normal and well-adjusted person with no chips on their shoulder.

> I see it a lot around the internet.

If you think the population's attitudes are what is visible to you on the internet, you'd be wrong 100% of the time.

Turns out, shaming people into silence on the internet does not change their minds about anything.

Re: 60-year-old German man likely seventh person to be effectively cured from HIV

#29
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While looking for something else on San Francisco's heath departments website I found the following two things. In San Francisco Deaths from AIDs dropped 70% from 1996 to 1997. That's in one year it went from a relentless death sentence to manageable chronic. While almost everyone that got HIV in the mid 80's are dead most people that got HIV in the mid 90's are still here. If that's not winning it's close.

10,000 people a year die of AIDS in the US. Not even remotely close to "winning." I suspect a large portion of those deaths are due to poor sexual education thanks to christofascists, and people who don't get tested regularly because of poor access to family planning and reproductive health, again thanks to christofascists. All because Magical Sky God Said Abortion Bad. That and people who lose their healthcare and c…

It’s mostly through drug use, poverty, etc.

Re: 60-year-old German man likely seventh person to be effectively cured from HIV

#30
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While looking for something else on San Francisco's heath departments website I found the following two things. In San Francisco Deaths from AIDs dropped 70% from 1996 to 1997. That's in one year it went from a relentless death sentence to manageable chronic. While almost everyone that got HIV in the mid 80's are dead most people that got HIV in the mid 90's are still here. If that's not winning it's close.

10,000 people a year die of AIDS in the US. Not even remotely close to "winning." I suspect a large portion of those deaths are due to poor sexual education thanks to christofascists, and people who don't get tested regularly because of poor access to family planning and reproductive health, again thanks to christofascists. All because Magical Sky God Said Abortion Bad. That and people who lose their healthcare and c…

Isn’t that like a third of gun deaths in the USA? Personally for me this idea of trust that it’s undetectable and therefore non jtransmissible is not a risk I would recommend anyone to take, but at the same time we have to put things into relation no?
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