Bother just diagnosed

I have a brother just diagnosed with HIV.  Our family is devesated.  We were wondering if there is a cure for this on the horizon and if so how long?  We know there are treatments but do they work for everyone?  How do we help keep him healthy?

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Welcome to the HIV forum.  Sorry to hear about your brother's diagnosis.  This forum limited to HIV prevention; we don't address treatment etc, so just some general comments follow below.  An excellent resource if you need more detail is an HIV/AIDs website with lots of forums, www.thebody.com.

There is no likelihood of a cure for HIV, i.e. treatment to eradicate the virus from the body, in the foreseeable future.  However, treatement is now very good, with reasonably nontoxic drugs.  With proper medical management, almost all HIV infected persons can expect to live long and productive lives in good health.  It is too soon to say what percent will have entirely normal life spans, but at least 20-30 years survival probably is now the norm.  As treatment continues to improve, probably it will get even better.

As for "how to keep him healthy", it's mainly to assue he is under the care of a knowledgeable doctor or clinic.  Your brother may wish to continue with a general primary care provider (family medicine, internist, etc), but a infectious diseases specialist or other specialit with high-level HIV/AIDS expertise also needs to be involved in his care, either as a consultant or primary provider.  Such an expert should be easy to find if you brother is in or near a large metropolitan area; if not, he may need to travel a couple times a year to see an ID specialist.

From a personal/family perspective, the most important thing is acceptance and love -- which you seem to have in abundance; your genuine concern shines through.  The biggest problems generally arise because of 1) non-acceptance of the lifestyle factors that led to HIV (homosexuality, injection drug use, etc), and 2) fear of infection through family contact.  Educate yourself about transmission of HIV, i.e. that there is absolutely no risk of transmission of the virus in normal family interactions -- touching, sharing meals and toilets, hugging, kissing, etc.  In other words, treat him as the brother he has always been; he isn't a different person because he has HIV.

Finally, if the lifestyle that has led to HIV is a problem, e.g. if injection drug use is a problem, that needs to be addressed.  The most common reason HIV treatment fails is not the disease itself, but that lifestyle gets in the say -- drug use continues, there is a psychiatric problem that gets in the way of proper health care, etc.  Of course this doesn't extend to homosexuality, which in itself isn't a health problem.

I hope this helps.  Best wishes to you and your brother--  HHH, MD

PS:  I'm not sure why you posted your question twice -- probably just a mistake.  I deleted the first one; you can use the contact link to send a message to MedHelp administration and request a refund of one posting fee.