HIV/AIDS HOTLINES

Q: If I practice safe sex, do I still have to tell a new lover that I have HIV?

A: Yes, you do. Not only is it the right thing to do morally and ethically, it is the law.

Most states have specific laws requiring people with HIV or AIDS to tell their partners about their status before they have sex. Even if your state doesn’t have such a law, you could be charged with another crime such as reckless endangerment, or assault.

For example, in a recent case, an HIV-positive US Air Force sergeant who was an active swinger was sentenced to eight years in prison for telling his swinging partners that he was “clean.” Even though he wore a condom, and no one is known to have contracted HIV as a result of his activities, he was convicted of seven counts of aggravated assault, along with other charges. He could have been sentenced to more than 50 years in prison.

Q: I’m a young woman living with HIV. Can I have a healthy baby?

A: It’s not absolutely guaranteed, but the odds are in your favor. Yes!

Here are the facts. Without medical intervention, the odds that a baby born to a woman with HIV will also have HIV are about one in four. That is, about 26% of babies born to HIV-positive women have HIV.

But researchers have been working on ways to reduce that percentage for many years – and they’ve been very successful! With proper care before, during and after pregnancy, the odds of your baby being born with HIV are now less than 1%. One hospital - the Bickerstaff Pediatric Family Center at Miller’s Children’s Hospital in Long Beach, CA - just celebrated 15 years with zero HIV transmission from mother to baby!

Q: I’ve just heard that having HIV may increase my chances of having a stroke. Is that true?

A: Unfortunately, yes.

While the overall stroke rate in the United States has declined in the last decade, the rate among people living with HIV or AIDS has climbed. The reason for the increase is not clear, although some experts believe the increase is related to the use of protease inhibitors, which can affect the levels of cholesterol and lipids in your blood, as well as the distribution of fat in your body.

The best way to protect yourself is to work with your doctor to make sure your cholesterol levels – as well as your viral load – stay under control. Please note that, even with the increased risk, the absolute risk of stroke for people with HIV is still very low – less that 0.2%.

Q: I just read something about an AIDS vaccine. Would a successful vaccine cure HIV?

A: Unfortunately, no.

A vaccine is intended to immunize people who do not yet have HIV. It would not help people who are already HIV-positive.

In any case, creating a vaccine for HIV/AIDS has proven to be very difficult. In 1984, shortly after the AIDS virus was first identified, US Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret Heckler said a vaccine would be available in two years. More than a quarter-century later, we’re still waiting. A recent trial of an HIV vaccine in Thailand was modestly successful – the group that received the vaccine had 30% fewer HIV infections than the placebo group. But that’s not nearly enough of a difference to make a vaccine practical.

Q: Has anyone ever been cured of HIV?

A: Yes – just one.

In 2007, a 40-year-old HIV-positive man who is now known worldwide as “The Berlin Patient,” underwent massive chemotherapy as part of his treatment for acute myeloid leukemia, a cancer of the immune system. After his own immune system was destroyed by the chemo, it was replaced by stem cells from a donor who had a rare genetic mutation called CCR5delta32. People with this mutation lack CCR5, the keyhole HIV uses to enter cells. The Berlin Patient hasn’t had HIV medications for three-and-a-half years, and there is no evidence of HIV in his body. Most experts consider him to be the first – and only – person ever cured of HIV.

But don’t buy a plane ticket to Berlin just yet! The procedure this patient underwent is grueling and often fatal. The chemo he took is a desperate, last-ditch attempt to save someone dying of leukemia. And donors with the CCR5delta32 mutation make up only 1% of white people, and 0% of blacks.

But this case proves that eradicating HIV from the body is possible. Before this, many experts believed it was not. The Berlin Patient gives the search for a cure new hope.

Do you have a question you would like to see answered in a future issue of HIV Positive! magazine? Please email it to: LPorter@phpubs.com

Copyright 2012, Positive Health Publications, Inc.

This magazine is intended to enhance your relationship with your doctor - not replace it! Medical treatments and products should always be discussed with a licensed physician who has experience treating HIV and AIDS!