Two HIV diagnoses and the difference a decade makes.
Many HIV-positive individuals view their illness as a chronic illness. However, this wasn’t always the case. A diagnosis of HIV was practically equivalent to a death sentence until treatments were developed that could effectively suppress the virus.
For people with HIV and AIDS, the first combination antiretroviral treatments’ approval in the late 1990s changed everything. These days, taking preventive medication can lower the risk of HIV infection. In many regions of the world, the number of cases of the virus is gradually decreasing. However, we are still a long way from completely eliminating the virus or effectively resolving the complex problems that HIV-positive individuals must deal with.
I spoke with two HIV-positive individuals to find out how much has changed since the initial reports of a rare lung infection in 1981. Dr. Robert Garofalo teaches pediatrics at Ann and Robert H. Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois, and serves as Chief of Adolescent Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics there. Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago. In 2010, Rob was diagnosed with HIV.
The other is my friend Christopher, who was a dancer before retraining to become a dispensing optician after working as a childcare provider in Chicago and the United Kingdom. Christopher returned to the United States. The K. in 1994. Soon after, he discovered that he had AIDS. Rob and Christopher both discussed how they learned they were HIV positive during our talk. They discussed the key elements that enabled them to deal with their diagnosis and long-term HIV infection. We also talked about their opinions on the stigma that still surrounds people with HIV and what might happen in the future.
When I was in college in the middle of the 1980s, I vividly recall people getting sick, going to the hospital, and then returning to their dorm. There was simply a great deal of stigma and secrecy. It was a very difficult period to deal with back then. Another instance caught Rob’s attention. Princess Diana gave a 7-year-old boy with AIDS a hug during a visit to Harlem Hospital in New York City in 1989. I believe that image has always struck a chord with me. It is among the first times I can recall people considering and discussing the HIV epidemic as a pediatrician and caregiver.
As the Research Editor for Medical News Today, I have been tracking changes in HIV treatment over the years. My earliest memory dates back to 1987, when Zidovudine—also known as AZT—was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as the first medication to treat HIV. When I was six years old, I had a lot of questions about the AIDS disease that I had heard about on the news. My parents clarified that this was a novel illness that was killing a lot of people. They promised that a cure and possibly a vaccine would be available by the time I was older.
Over 78 million people have been infected with HIV since the 1980s, according to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS). AIDS-related illness has claimed the lives of over 35 million people. Approximately 38 million people worldwide were HIV positive in 2019, with 1.8 million of them being children under the age of 14. Approximately 26 million individuals received retroviral therapy globally in 2020. Conversely, this indicates that approximately 12 million individuals are not utilizing this potentially life-saving procedure. Compared to the peak year of 1998, the annual number of new HIV infections has decreased by 40%. Compared to the peak in 2004, AIDS-related deaths have decreased by 60% annually. Although these figures are striking, AIDS-related illness claimed the lives of about 690,000 people in 2019.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 1.2 million Americans are HIV positive. HIV-related causes accounted for 5,534 of the 16,358 HIV-positive deaths in 2017. These numbers amply demonstrate the enormous advancements in HIV prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Rob’s opinions on whether we had made enough progress were very clear. In the last 25 to 30 years, we have made significant progress in public health. Not only are the drugs beneficial, but they can save lives.
However, there is still much to be done to address the stigma experienced by HIV-positive individuals. Additionally, there are still certain issues with prevention and ensuring that these life-saving drugs are available everywhere in the world. Christopher used the occasion to consider how much has changed since he first learned about HIV and AIDS. I started witnessing people I knew getting very sick and passing away quickly. When I first moved to Chicago, one of my closest friends was among the first to get the illness and pass away quickly. It therefore struck me really, really hard.
Then, many of my clients simply passed away in the late 1980s. It was a common topic of discussion and thought in gay society. Christopher remembered a lot of these discussions. Some involved going to the hospital to visit a friend who was ill. There, he would meet his friend’s parents, and soon after, the friend would pass away. When combination therapy was introduced, the disease was no longer seen as a fatal condition, which completely altered people’s perceptions of it. Naturally, it then developed into what it is today, which is comparable to having diabetes. It’s a fantastic thing. For myself, as well as for everyone else.
Christopher brings up some extremely significant issues. A pivot was made. At some point in the late 1990s, people started to view HIV and AIDS as chronic illnesses rather than diseases that were universally perceived as fatal. As a doctor and pediatrician, my HIV practice used to be primarily inpatient, but it is now primarily outpatient. I now discuss with my patients the importance of having retirement plans and making plans for a happy, fulfilling life.
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