Question
How long can someone live with HIV?
2 January 2018. Related: All topics, Life expectancy.
How long can a man live with HIV if he was around 18 years old and was healthy when he was infected, both with and without medication?
Answer
Modern HIV drugs mean that life expectancy is now similar for HIV positive people to the general population.
This is based on being diagnosed early and having access to treatment.
The wide range of factors related to life expectancy include: where you live, your income, access to health care, lifestyle (alcohol, drugs, tobacco, exercise and diet) and other infections like hepatitis, genetics and chance – good or bad luck.
Several large studies have been published showing that life expectancy for HIV positive people is very good, and near to an HIV negative person.
Without treatment, HIV will slowly progress in nearly everyone. This speed that HIV progresses varies from a few years to more than 20 years.
Note: this answer was updated in January 2018 from a question posted in August 2008..
Hi
In South Africa, western blot is no longer used to confirm positive results,Can CD4 count and viral load be used to confirm infection?
Zakes
Hi Nonso,
It is good that you are starting treatment when your CD4 count is still quite high. This means that you have a very good chance that your CD4 count will increase and your viral load will go down to undetectable. Do you know what the drugs you have been given are called?
If you take treatment everyday as it is prescribed by your doctor it is unlikely you will fall sick. Having a high CD4 count means your immune system is strong and able to fight off infections. Because of this HIV positive people on treatment now have a similar life expectancy to HIV negative people.
Hi tnx for ur response the other time, i hv chack my cd4 count nd is 341 so i am place on drugs my question is dat wil i fall sick every day can i stay heathy for d nxt 50year cos i am 22year,and wil dis drugs increase my c d4nd reduce my viral load,can i live a normal life.
Hi Kaycee,
I’m sorry to hear about your test results. It’s good that you are getting this checked, but it is quite unlikely that the next test will be negative. HIV treatment is very effective though, and means you can hope to live about as long as you would have without HIV. Please follow this link for more info about a cure.
Hi…I tested positive to hiv 4 days ago…but I doubt the test result cos I ran a test on hepatitis b & other std test and it all came out negative except for the hiv test..
I will be going for a confirmatory test in 2 days…is there any chance of getting a negative result?
*also I’m 20 & I’m Nigerian…if I’m tested positive again.,can I live up to 70yrs & will there ever be a cure for it.
Hi Amaria,
I’m sorry to hear about your recent diagnosis.
I haven’t heard of Teevir before, but drugs have different names in different countries. It should say on the packed what the three drugs this contains are (it’s likely this is ‘tenofovir, emtricibatine and efavirenz’). Can you check this and let me know?
Usually you would have your CD4 checked before you start treatment, but it will not harm you starting before you had done this. Did you have any symptoms before you were diagnosed?
If you take treatment properly, you should expect to live for many years. HIV treatment allows people to have a near-normal life expectancy.
Viral load is a measure of how much virus is in the body. The aim of treatment is to get this to ‘undetectable’ which is less than 50. You can read more about viral loads, and HIV treatment, at this link.
Hi, i am 30 from India, i tested ön oct 2012,and positive hiv 1. And i consult private doctor in december, he gave me one month course hiv medicin, its Teevir (art)from maylan company u.s.a. He said it’s a good quality. Is it true? Or is there other type of hiv medicine. I dont’t exactly since when i am diagnosed but at leas its supposed to be been 2 years. So i started the medication from dec 2012 before checking cd4. Now önly my dr took my blood for cd4,cd3,cd8. Wil get the result in 2 days. Is it ok taking treatment befor knowing cd count? And if i take treatment properly, how many years i can live more? How does hiv person die? And what is viral load.Can you help me with the answere.
Hi Nonso,
I’m very sorry to hear about your recent diagnosis, and how worried you are about your family knowing.
ARVs are very effective and if you take them properly you can live for many years and do everything you planned to before you found out you were positive.
Has your doctor spoken to you about when you will need to start treatment?
To contact people living with HIV in Nigeria try contacting NEPHWAN- the Network of People Living with HIV in Nigeria. Their contact details are on their website.
Hi I tested positive this Dec. I am just 22years,I want to know if I can live up 2 more 40 year with d arv medicine cos I am scared my family members will disown me if they find out I am positive. I am in nigerian still in d university, can I find anybody in nigeria i can talk 2 who is positive?
Hi Mpho,
Positive HIV antibody tests should be checked with something called the western blot test. This test is 100% accurate and is routinely used to check antibody tests. Antibody tests have a 1.5% false positive rate- this means 15 out of 1000 tests which are positive might be wrong. So a small number of people who have a rapid test could be told they are positive when they are not.
This is very rare though, so your brother’s example is very unusual. It is a good idea for you both to have confirmatory tests to check your results. You can read more about test accuracy in our testing guide.