Dr Christian
World AIDS Day Special
THE CLINIC THE RED ISSUE
Q&A
Our health expert Dr Christian Jessen answers your medical queries
GOT A PROBLEM, WANT ANSWERS? • EMAIL DRCHRISTIAN@ATTITUDE.CO.UK
Getting tested for HIV can be scary, but honestly it shouldn’t be. The condition is entirely manageable. Although people sometimes struggle with the mental impact of the diagnosis, physically, if you test positive, early detection, monitoring and effective treatment means that your life largely carries on as before.
Incredible medical progress has been made in the last 20 years and HIV treatment is now very effective. If you are diagnosed with HIV before it has damaged your body and you are put on effective treatment, you can expect to live as long as anyone else.
HIV treatment lowers the amount of HIV in the body to undetectable levels. Global research, known as the PARTNER study, has found that it is very likely HIV cannot be passed on when the virus is undetectable. In other words, if someone is on effective HIV treatment, it is extremely unlikely that he will pass on HIV to anyone else.