For every medical and societal step forward in the fight against
HIV and AIDS, it seems nature and human complacency have an equally
significant counterattack.
Anti-viral drugs have kept millions of HIV-positive people alive
for increasing numbers of years, but AIDS is still deadly ““
and still spreading. A new case in New York highlights the
continuing danger.
City health officials and The New York Times reported Friday
that a man had developed AIDS last month after contracting the HIV
virus between May 2003 and October 2004.
The case is important because most people take years to develop
full-blown AIDS, especially when they are taking anti-viral drug
cocktails. The average time for AIDS to develop after infection is
7 to 10 years.
But in this man’s case, AIDS might have developed in as
little as three months. Additionally, his particular strain of the
virus appeared to be resistant to three of four drugs commonly
given to HIV patients.
Doctors quoted in the Times said the resistance was not what
worried them ““ it is already an unfortunate fact that many
drug-resistant strains exist. Rather, the unique feature of this
case is the speed at which HIV progressed into AIDS.
If research determines his infection is the result of a new,
more aggressive strain, its spread could be one of the most serious
escalations of risk in the virus’s history.
Now that many feel AIDS is old news and young people
aren’t losing as many peers to the disease as in the
’80s and ’90s, most college students do not think about
HIV/AIDS on a daily basis, and many people believe the new drug
cocktails have made HIV infections less than lethal.
This case is an important reminder of the seriousness of HIV and
AIDS. Yes, there are drugs that can delay the onset of AIDS. And
many people with HIV today live very normal lives compared to
people who contracted the disease in the 1980s.
But AIDS still kills people every day, and HIV continues to
mutate and become increasingly resistant to existing drugs.
Protected sex and HIV testing are still the only measures which
can decrease risk. Some may still think it is an acceptable risk to
have sex without a condom, or to have multiple partners in a short
period of time without getting tested.
But it is such risky behavior that enables HIV to spread. As the
Times reported, the New York City’s Department of Health and
Mental Hygiene conducted a survey and found “half of city
residents with multiple recent sexual partners had not been tested
for HIV in the previous 18 months, and 40 percent said that they
had not used condoms the last time they had sex.”
Whether it is a fear of getting tested or a macho opposition to
using condoms, people continue to put their lives at risk ““
and their partners’ lives as well.
Some people might be sick of hearing the warnings, but until the
general population’s actual behavior is in step with the
advice, it is important for doctors, teachers and the media to
continue stressing the danger of AIDS.