Bramblethorn
Sleep-deprived
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2012
- Posts
- 18,245
https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/the-l...ng-with-hiv-who-s-about-to-turn-100-1.4214965
Miguel walks with poise, sometimes leaning on a cane as he steadily moves down the hallway of a busy urban hospital outside Lisbon, Portugal. But other than the walking aid and some vision and hearing loss -- nothing surprising for a man who will be 100 this spring -- on the surface, he is the picture of perfect geriatric health. Miguel, however, has spent at least a quarter of a century living with HIV.
...
It is unknown exactly when and how Miguel contracted HIV -- he has been loath to speak about it -- but his medical team estimates that he was living with the virus for about a decade before being diagnosed at age 84. Unprotected heterosexual contact, they believe, was the most likely culprit.
After being on the brink of death 15 years ago, today Miguel has a strong CD4 cell count and an undetectable viral load, meaning that he has almost no virus in his blood and cannot transmit HIV. In other words, The Lisbon Patient is as healthy as a 99-year-old could be. Almost completely independent, he even lives alone and receives only minimal assistance in his day-to-day life from a family member who resides in the same apartment building.
ARVs are amazing. I remember being taught in the 1980s that HIV was a death sentence, but it doesn't have to be.
Miguel walks with poise, sometimes leaning on a cane as he steadily moves down the hallway of a busy urban hospital outside Lisbon, Portugal. But other than the walking aid and some vision and hearing loss -- nothing surprising for a man who will be 100 this spring -- on the surface, he is the picture of perfect geriatric health. Miguel, however, has spent at least a quarter of a century living with HIV.
...
It is unknown exactly when and how Miguel contracted HIV -- he has been loath to speak about it -- but his medical team estimates that he was living with the virus for about a decade before being diagnosed at age 84. Unprotected heterosexual contact, they believe, was the most likely culprit.
After being on the brink of death 15 years ago, today Miguel has a strong CD4 cell count and an undetectable viral load, meaning that he has almost no virus in his blood and cannot transmit HIV. In other words, The Lisbon Patient is as healthy as a 99-year-old could be. Almost completely independent, he even lives alone and receives only minimal assistance in his day-to-day life from a family member who resides in the same apartment building.
ARVs are amazing. I remember being taught in the 1980s that HIV was a death sentence, but it doesn't have to be.
