Life expectancy of HIV-infected people after taking medication

I believe everyone knows that AIDS is a very serious disease. There is currently no complete cure for AIDS. Generally, when we find someone infected with AIDS, we just use drugs to control the disease and prevent the disease from occurring, thereby prolonging life. The survival time of an AIDS infected person depends on the patient's usual treatment and care. In more serious cases, the life expectancy is generally about 2 years.

1. How long can one live with AIDS?

The asymptomatic period of an infected person can last long or short, from 2 years to 20 years. Its length is closely related to the route of infection. Generally, those infected through menstrual blood (mainly through illegal blood collection and shared syringes) are 4-5 years, and those infected through sexual intercourse are generally 11-13 years. If an infected person's asymptomatic period can reach 13 years, he or she can be called a long-term survivor.

When the immune cells in the infected person's body can no longer fight HIV, it marks the entry into the final stage of HIV infection, called the symptomatic stage. At this time, the infected person is called AIDS patient, and they are very susceptible to other diseases. Some common infectious diseases that usually do not threaten human life at all, such as pneumonia, will be out of control once they enter the body of AIDS, and the person usually dies within 6 to 24 months.

HIV destroys large numbers of immune cells every day, and the bone marrow compensates by accelerating the production of new cells. However, the rate at which new cells are replenished cannot always keep up with the rate at which cells are lost.

In a normal human body, there are about 800 to 1000 immune cells per cubic millimeter of blood. In an infected person, the number of immune cells per cubic millimeter of blood gradually decreases at a rate of 50-70 per year. When the number of immune cells is reduced to only about 200 per cubic millimeter of blood, the rate of decline will accelerate.

2. Can AIDS be cured?

Can AIDS be cured? Currently, there is still a lack of effective drugs to cure HIV infection worldwide.

The current treatment goals are: to maximize and sustainably reduce viral load; to achieve immune reconstitution and maintain immune function; to improve quality of life; and to reduce HIV-related morbidity and mortality.

AIDS is a special virus. Unlike ordinary viruses, it destroys the human immune system. The immune system is the human body's key system for fighting against viral and bacterial invasions.

Therefore, it is difficult to develop effective drugs to fight HIV. Although AIDS cannot be cured at present, with the improvement of medical technology and the development of science, I believe it will be possible to overcome this difficulty in the future.