Life expectancy for people with HIV has increased by an average of 13 years since the late 1990s, thanks to improved treatments, scientists say. This means, they note in an article published by the medical journal Lancet, that the human immunodeficiency virus today can be considered more of a chronic ailment like diabetes than a fatal disease
A group of scientists, in which, in particular, specialists from the University of the English city of Bristol worked, analyzed the data of more than 43 thousand patients. As a result, the researchers concluded that if a person is diagnosed with HIV today at the age of twenty, he can count on another 49 years of life.
Antiretroviral treatment for HIV is the use of drugs that work directly against infections that slow down the transmission of the virus in the human body. This method has been used since the 1990s, but during this time it has become more effective, and the drugs themselves are more compatible with the normal life of the body.
Scientists in their work analyzed life expectancy of patients in high-income countries for three periods after the introduction of antiretroviral therapy: from 1996 to 1999, from 2000 to 2002 and from 2003 to 2005 Th. During all this time, just over 2 thousand patients have died.
If a 20-year-old was diagnosed with HIV in the 1990s, he could, on average, expect to live another 36 years, and by 2003-2005 this figure had increased by 13 years. In the intermediate period, it was equal to the patient's age plus 41 years.
“This progress has moved HIV from the deadly disease it was in before the combination therapy was used to a long-term chronic disease,” says lead researcher Professor Jonathan Stern.
However, he and his colleagues emphasize that people who are diagnosed with HIV at a later age have a significantly reduced life expectancy.
According to Mark Thompson of the Terrence Higgins Foundation, “HIV drugs have become much more effective since their inception. There has been tremendous progress, but research needs to continue, especially with those patients who develop resistance to certain medications.” In addition, the scientist adds, the ongoing studies indicate the need to detect HIV as early as possible, since about a third of patients do not know that they are carriers of the immunodeficiency virus.
I must say, the logic of doctors is not easy to understand. The predictions of the “remaining years of life” look strange to say the least. Since the discovery of the disease in 1981, only 27 years have passed. Where did scientists get the confidence that a person with such a diagnosis will live 49 years (and why 49, and not, say, 51 or 47?) - remains a mystery.
Perhaps the answers to the questions that arise lie on a different - much less altruistic plane. The average cost of AIDS treatment worldwide is $ 12,000 per patient per year. It seems that medicine is simply beneficial for people to get sick.
