You’re right, it is controllable. A mate of mine was diagnosed as positive around 13 years ago. Now he has negligible amounts of testable antibodies in his system. His mum, who is extremely religious claims it’s a miracle but the doctors have said that with the right combination of drugs, he will remain as close to being HIV free as possible without being HIV free if you know what I mean. If he stops taking the medication the virus will slowly take hold again but there is no reason why he can’t live a reasonably normal life from here on in.
Actually he wasn’t provoking anyone. He waiting at a bus stop.
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Not sure we should be comparing developed countries with under-developed countries in this one.
If you can afford the drugs, it’s not a death sentence.
No good for those in under-developed countries though.
The US is probably not the best example, given that their ‘health system’ denies many AIDS patients (especially iv drug users) access to perfectly effective medications on cost grounds. Countries with a decent healthcare safety net generally keep AIDS deaths under control much more successfully.
I believe that modern antiretrovirals etc are extremely effective at suppressing the virus, though some research is starting to come out about liver damage etc in long-term users. But I suspect that’s a trade most would be willing to pay, given the appalling inevitable death sentence than untreated HIV is.
I vaguely knew a kid who died of it a few years back. Nice guy, bit scatterbrained and vulnerable, slept with a random bloke at a gay club to get back at a boyfriend for something or other, caught the virus as a result, lived in the US and worked casually so didn’t have health insurance worth a damn. Got too sick too quickly for the meds to save him even if he could afford them, died within months.
It’s a terrifying virus. You read And The Band Played On or similar, and you realise what a holocaust is was in the gay community around that time. Whole social groups just getting wiped out wholesale. The Grim Reaper ad looks like overkill now the meds exist, but back then they were a perfectly reasonable response.
ANYWAY…
“Should the law be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry?”
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YES.
Gay people in Australia should have access to the common societal good ‘marriage’.
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What a silly question. Yes, of course it should. Why are we the last western county to do so?
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Because the majority of Australians are conservative toss-bags, or don’t care too much about anyone else except themselves.
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Now Abbott wants to censor music.
I only voted YES because I’m annoyed the freaking Kiwi’s beat us to it. AGAIN.
Are we really?
Don’t think Germany have done it yet. There aren’t many left.
Thanks for that BF, another quality post.
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Ah, ok. Germany did a few months ago.
Oh well, I guess we’re a bit more like Russia. Makes sense when you bump into so many Australians who seem to admire Vlad Putin for some inexplicable reason.
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He rides a horse…bare chested…what’s not to admire?
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Who would you like to see win a shirtfronting contest between Putin and Abbott?
You bet you would.
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It’s kind of disturbing how people underestimate Russia.
Those pics were funny five years ago.
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Cue trip… “but but Qatar, Suadi Arabia…”
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