Is HIV Fatal? HIV and the subsequent AIDS infection cause severe damage to the immune system. Development of AIDS in HIV arises when the count of CD4 cells is below 200. This may lead to different infections and cancers that occur in the presence of the HIV virus. Currently there is no treatment to cure HIV, and the person infected will likely have the virus for life. It is not clear whether or not HIV can cause death. Without proper treatment, it may take an average of 10 years for a person to contract AIDS. However, some get AIDS more quickly, which makes complications more uncertain with HIV. It varies from person to person and depending upon the immune system, shows different results. The current prospective towards HIV has enhanced, and those with HIV are able to live longer lives with proper medication. According to some reports it is confirmed that if a person is diagnosed with HIV virus at the age of 25, if followed by proper treatment can live 40 more years. Between the years of 1996 and 2005, medical treatments have improved a great deal. The treatment involves antiretroviral therapy, which is known to increase life expectancy of the infected person. Due to these advancements in treatment HIV is not considered as fatal disease. But, it cannot be denied that life expectancy in HIV patients is short, and patients treated in the last stages have an even lower life expectancy. According to research, HIV experts confirm there are some changes in life and death expectancy among HIV infected people, if they are administered Cart treatment. Many professors collaborated with other study workers to analyze 18,587, 13,914 and 10,584 patients who started Cart treatment in 1996-99, 2000-02, and 2003-05 respectively. According to the report, 2,056 patients died during the study period, dropping from an average of 16.3 deaths in the year 1996 to 1999, to 10.0 in the year 2003 to 2005. Life expectancy increased from 36.1 years from 1996 to 1999, to 49.4 years. The study revealed that from 2003-05, an increase of more than 13 years was observed. It was also confirmed that despite HIV positive results, an infected person with Cart treatment at the age of 20 can live another 43 to 63 years. The life and death expectancy in HIV is linked to treatment and the stage of the infection. It is confirmed that people who get HIV through infected needles, have a shorter life expectancy in comparison to other groups. Infected HIV women have a somewhat longer life expectancy than men, because women on average start their treatment earlier during the course of HIV infection. People who have not followed the correct treatment regimen for HIV have a much higher chance of dying from said disease. However, proper treatment of HIV infected
people can lead to longer, healthier lives, if treatment is started immediately. The HIV virus is becoming less fatal according to some reports. As per a new report, HIV modifies a person’s immune system and due to these adaptations there is chance that the infected person may reduce the virulence of the virus. Many researchers have looked deep into HIV, and confirmed that along with human immune system proteins and the use of HIV drugs, forced the virus to morph into a less virulent form. Be cognisant of the aforementioned facts surrounding HIV and AIDS, and prevent contraction of this degenerative disease.
Please follow us on Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter