Lives of HIV+ people bloom with disciplined routine, early treatment

Bengaluru: Every morning when Pradeep, 33, boards a BMTC bus to work in a multinational company, nothing about him suggests he has been living with HIV for 25 years now.

His story and that of thousands in state are a proof of how treatment and discipline have quietly transformed what was once a life-limiting diagnosis into a fully liveable condition. The national target for India is to reduce rate of HIV below 5%. While the country is still battling to achieve it, Karnataka’s HIV rate is already under 5%, data shows. On the occasion of World Aids Day on Dec 1, DH spoke to doctors who said treatment for HIV should not be delayed, while survivors shared stories of courage.  

Human Immunodeficiency Virus or HIV is an infection contracted from the mother while baby is still in womb, through blood transfusions, unsterilised needles and other sources. 

The Indira Gandhi hospital, also the Centre for Excellence of Rare Diseases (COERD) which deals with children infected with HIV and their mothers, started 'Test and Treat' method of treatment in the state, which helped bring down cases.

Dr Sanjeeva G N, professor of paediatrics and nodal officer of COERD, told DH: “CD4 is a component in the blood that HIV attacks. Earlier, even after detection of HIV, we would wait for CD4 to decrease to a certain level before starting antiretroviral therapy (ART). But after 2017, we started doing it after detection, without waiting”.

Starting therapy immediately prevents the virus from reproducing, which in turn reduces viral load in the body, thus keeping the immune system healthy, said Sanjeeva. Suppression of the virus to the level of undetectable viral load means it is not transmissible, he said.

However, to keep the virus at bay, it is important that survivors adhere to discipline and consume ART drugs, said Sanjeeva. 

People with HIV, who have adhered to medicine and have got better, are leading very normal, healthy lives. Many survivors have completed education, secured jobs, married and have had children.

DH spoke to survivors from different age groups who explained how aid from doctors and counselling helped them return to a normal life. However, one of the survivors pointed out that society still disapproved of survivors. 

“People still think eating, shaking hands with us or even sitting beside us will infect them,” said a woman survivor.

Clearing the myth, Sanjeeva said, “Saliva, air and urine. None of these can affect other people. Only blood, semen and vaginal fluids are carriers.”