How long can I live with AIDS? The latest research in the Lancet sub-journal: the life expectancy of infected people after standardized treatment is no different from ordinary people

In previous AIDS education, AIDS patients always appeared as a frightening embarrassment.

For example, posters posted in the community show AIDS patients emaciated and withered, with various strange tumors and large ulcerative pustules.

The process of AIDS patients from infection to death in film and television works is also painful and rapid: in the movie "Charlotte Troubles", Charlotte began a life of drunken gold fans after achieving fame in her dreams, accidentally contracting AIDS after an indulgence, and dying in a short time. 

Is it true that after contracting AIDS, will you die soon?

This is actually a common misunderstanding of AIDS among the public.

After contracting an HIV infection, patients usually go through three stages.

The first stage is the acute phase, in which infected people develop cold-like symptoms such as fever, sore throat, lymphoma, etc. within a few weeks.

The second is the incubation period, at this stage HIV carriers and normal people are no different, but there will be a large amount of HIV in body fluids, and the virus incubation time is generally about 7-10 years, or even up to 12 years.

Finally, it enters the stage of onset, when people living with AIDS develop into AIDS patients, and opportunistic infections and malignant tumors caused by immune system defects appear.

Therefore, the horrible image of the disease is not representative of all people living with HIV.

Moreover, the "cocktail therapy" in modern medical methods has been able to inhibit the replication of HIV in the human body to the greatest extent, greatly delaying the progression of the disease.

The life expectancy of people living with HIV after treatment is no different from that of ordinary people

The Lancet HIV recently published a new study from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom that analyzed the life expectancy of people living with HIV who started taking antiviral drugs after 2015.

（图源：The Lancet HIV ）

The study included 206891 HIV-infected patients. One of the data showed that women infected with HIV at age 40 could expect to live 36 years if they started taking the drug before 2015; If the medication is started after 2015, when treatment conditions are better, the expected survival is 39 years.

Men infected with HIV at the age of 40 had an expected survival time of 35 years before 2015 and 37 years after 2015.

In addition, life expectancy is strongly correlated with CD4 T-cell count at the time of initiation of medication.

In male patients, for example, 40-year-old men with CD4 <50 when they start taking the drug can expect to survive 18 years (before 2015) and 24 years (after 2015). Male patients with CD4>500 when starting the drug can expect to survive 40 years (before 2015) and 42 years (after 2015).

（图源：The Lancet HIV）

It can be seen that the life expectancy of 40-year-old HIV-infected people who started taking drugs after 2015 and CD4>500 at the time of taking them is similar to that of healthy people.

How to improve medication adherence for people living with HIV remains a challenge

Research data has shown that today, when HIV antiretroviral treatment is very mature, as long as early detection and standardized treatment, the length and quality of life of HIV-infected patients are no different from ordinary people.

However, how to address medication adherence for people living with HIV remains an urgent issue for healthcare providers and HIV-related service providers.

For people living with HIV, it is more desperate and painful to insist on taking medication regularly every day for a long period of time than the fear and fear when they learn of the infection.

"Every time I take medicine, I feel like I am reminding myself that I have a terminal illness." Many infected people who are receiving drugs will have such negative thoughts, and some infected people will even stop taking drugs without authorization when their condition is stable.

In addition, "stigma" is a large part of the reason, and people with AIDS may not want to be seen taking their medication.

However, according to Sun Lijun, director of the STD and AIDS Clinic of Beijing You'an Hospital, infected people need to strictly follow the "principle of compliance" and take drugs regularly and for life every day to suppress the virus in the body. If the compliance is less than 95%, that is, the drug is missed more than 2 times a month, it is very easy to develop drug resistance.

Once drug resistance occurs, the original drug combination will no longer be effective, so the drug needs to be changed. The limited number of alternative drug combinations covered by the national free treatment policy means that patients need to use their own medications.

When multiple drug resistance occurs, even the self-paid drugs no longer work, then the patient is about to face the serious consequences of having no drug available. Therefore, it is important for people living with HIV to ensure good medication adherence, regular testing, and safe sex.

At last

Finally, I would like to say that the world has made remarkable progress in the treatment and prevention of HIV infection, and do not let our "gaze" become a tool to "kill" others, as we mentioned earlier, AIDS patients may resist treatment because of "stigma".

Caring for, helping and treating people living with HIV, eliminating discrimination against HIV/AIDS and helping to improve their quality of life are indispensable and important links for all mankind to end AIDS.

 *In addition to the annotation, the pictures in the article are from Photogram and have been authorized by the platform

Bibliography:

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