HIV Patient's 100th Birthday

Post Reply
fountainhall

HIV Patient's 100th Birthday

Post by fountainhall »

Who would have thought it? In the early days of HIV, it was a death sentence for all but a lucky few. As the anti-retroviral drugs were introduced, life expectancy increased dramatically, although there were dire warnings in news magazines that those on the drugs for a long period of time would start to suffer in their 50s from illnesses more common to 80-year olds.

Now the average age of Canadians with HIV is 50. But one person with HIV is now 99. He is the oldest known living HIV patient who will turn 100 this Spring. When he was 84, he went to a hospital near Lisbon with rare forms of colitis and lymphoma and a low CD4 count. He had no idea he might be HIV+. To start with, he had to undergo severe forms of chemotherapy before going on to an extended regimen of anti-retroviral drugs. The medical experts believe he had contracted the virus around 10 years earlier through unprotected sex.

Of Miguel, nicknamed the "Lisbon patient", HIV specialist Giovanni Guaraldi says
“I believe that the Lisbon Patient is a sign of hope for people living with HIV to say you still have the capacity not just to live longer but to live in health, to experience healthy aging…. He is a proof of principle for us researchers and doctors to say we can provide better care to people.”
https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/the-lisbo ... -1.4214965
Post Reply