Since AIDS was first identified in the United States in 1981, countless people have died from AIDS or AIDS-related diseases. At the time of the discovery of AIDS, many people died shortly after it was confirmed, so it was believed that AIDS was a terminal disease, and once confirmed, it meant that it would die soon. So after more than forty years of research, has this situation improved?How long can you live if you are now confirmed to be infected with HIV?What factors are related to its life span?
With the development of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment technology and the widespread application of antiretroviral drugs, AIDS is no longer a terminal disease, but has become a preventable, controllable and curable chronic disease. Infection is no longer the same as death, and many people living with HIV who are receiving ** are able to live long and healthy lives.
Recently, the results of a study of more than 200,000 adults living with HIV in North America and Europe showed that CD4T lymphocyte count and age have the greatest impact on life expectancy in infected people. People with very low CD4T lymphocyte counts (less than 50) are estimated to live about 20 years less than people with high CD4T lymphocyte counts (500 or more). The study estimated that the average life expectancy for women aged 40 years and 77 years for men would now be 78 years for women aged 40 years and 77 years for men if CD4T lymphocyte counts were between 200 and 349 if antiretrovirals were started after 2015. However, if their CD4T lymphocyte count exceeded 500, their life expectancy increased to 82 and 79 years, respectively. If, in addition, their viral load is chronically suppressed, they do not progress to the AIDS stage (CD4T lymphocyte 200) at the beginning of follow-up, and they do not acquire HIV through injecting drug use, their life expectancy increases to 83 and 80 years, compared to the average life expectancy of 86 and 81 years in the general population, respectively.
At the 2016 World AIDS Conference, experts agreed that AIDS almost no longer affects the life expectancy of people living with HIV, and although there are differences in life expectancy among different populations, this study shows that the gap between life expectancy between people living with HIV and the general population is narrowing, and reaffirms the importance of early and sustained antiretroviral**.
In addition to factors that affect longevity in the general population, such as age, sex, and genetic factors, the main factors that affect the longevity of people living with HIV include: CD4 T lymphocyte count (lower CD4 levels are associated with higher mortality), viral load (higher viral load is associated with increased mortality), route of HIV infection (mortality is significantly higher in injecting drug users than in men who have sex with men), whether or not to receive antiretrovirals**, and medication adherence, initiation of antivirals** time (the sooner the better), whether there are other complications, etc.
If the human body is like a house, HIV is there to wreak havoc on the house, and if the house is destroyed more and for longer, the more difficult it is to repair. HIV targets CD4T lymphocytes, the most important immune cells in the human immune system, and its purpose is to inhibit the replication and proliferation of HIV and promote the recovery of CD4T lymphocytes, a process called "immune reconstruction". The more CD4T lymphocytes are destroyed, the longer the immune reconstitution process will be.
In the absence of **, people living with HIV will go through three phases: acute, asymptomatic and AIDS. The acute phase can last for several months, the asymptomatic phase can last up to 10 years or more, during which time there can be no symptoms or discomfort, and the average survival time in the AIDS phase is about 3 years. If not regulated**, the lifespan of an infected person can be shortened by decades. For example, if a person is infected with HIV at the age of 30, if he does not receive antiviral**, then he will probably live to be about 40 years old.
In addition to longevity, there is another important concept: healthy longevity, that is, a high quality of life. In today's widespread antiretroviral development, people living with HIV are less likely to die from AIDS itself or opportunistic infections that occur in the AIDS stage (such as Kaposi's sarcoma, Pneumocystis pneumonia, etc.), and more deaths are caused by cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, cancer, liver and kidney diseases that we see in the general population. People living with HIV are more likely to develop diseases that are often associated with aging, such as heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis and kidney disease. A study in the United States found that, on average, people living with HIV may develop a major illness 16 years earlier than those who are not infected with HIV, which may be related to long-term use of antiviral drugs, which can affect various body functions to a greater or lesser extent. Of course, more research is needed to test this speculation.
In addition, cognitive impairment is also more prevalent in people living with HIV and is more likely to occur when CD4T lymphocyte levels are low than in the general population, while those who receive regular antiretroviral** are much less likely to have problems with memory or thinking. These suggest that people living with HIV should receive normative antiretroviral therapy early in order to maintain and improve their quality of life**.
If you have high-risk behaviors that are susceptible to HIV infection (such as sharing syringes for drug use, unprotected sex, etc.), you must go to the CDC or a secondary physician hospital for testing in time, and once you are confirmed to be infected with HIV, you must carry out antiviral ** in time, and you must follow the doctor's instructions in the process of antiviral**, you must not stop and change the drug at will, and you must do various examinations on time to evaluate the efficacy of **.
Some of the above information** from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention).