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..
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This service is based on information relating to treatment of people who are HIV positive.
Information online
Most testing questions are already answered on the FAQ page:
http://i-base.info/qa/faq/hiv-transmission-and-testing
Our guide to HIV Testing and risks of sexual transmission guide has more detailed and easy to read information about these topics. It can be read online at this link:
http://i-base.info/guides/testing
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In the UK you can find your nearest clinic using the NHS website:
http://www.nhs.uk/ServiceDirectories/Pages/ServiceSearchAdditional.aspx?ServiceType=SexualHealthService
Understanding HIV test results:
If you do not understand results from an HIV test, please contact the centre where you were tested.
Worried about symptoms?
If you are concerned about any symptoms please contact a doctor.
I had a human bite from HIV Possitive person Should i i have to worry about HIV Infection as i got bleeded during that bite.
Recently my platelets drop down in 2 weeks been tested a few times and they keep getting lower and I keep getting yeast infection. I have been tested twice for HIV but I heard that it can take a while to test in positive and the last guy I slept with won’t even discuss he lab results with me so what are some of the other signs of HIV and should I get tested again
Hi
You ask several things.
First, HIV and hepatitis B should be easy to treat together because some HIV drugs also work against hepatitis B.
These arre tenofovir, FTC and 3TC.
UK guidelines recommend that someone with HIV and HepB uses a combination that uses tenofovir plus either 3TC or FTC plus a third HIV drug. The tenofovir is important to include because it is better against the HepB that just using 3TC or FTC.
There are several reasons why some treatment does not work for everyone. About half the cases are because someone has been diagnosed very late when they are already too ill with serious complications. The other half relates to a slightly higher risk of health complications similar to HIV negative people or because resistance has developed to the HIV meds. Luckily thought the risk of death has dramatically reduced because of treatment, so both these situations are for a relatively small number of people.
Hello, i am HIV patient with hepatitis B. Nine months ago my CD4 was 490 and three months ago my CD4 dropped to 360. Now I have to start HAART treatment. I want to know whether having both HIV with hepatitis b is hard to treatment with HAART …why do some HIV patients die even when there is treatment?
Hi
Because you are pregnant, your doctor should be talking to you about treatment to reduce the risk of passing HIV to your baby. The timing for when to start during your pregnancy will depend on your viral load.
After your pregnancy, because your CD4count is good and seems to be staying high even after a few years, you may chose to stop treatment. You might then not need to start treatment for several years for your own health – unless you decide to have another baby…
About 25% of people in the UK manage to go for 10 years or more without needing treatment. This is individual though and continuing to monitor is important.
I was diagnosed with hiv in2008 and was three months pregnant,i have regular bloodtests every 6months.recent blood results -cd4 is 1800 which is very high & my gp says it’s progressing slowly &might not need treatment for the next 20 years.is this true?
Hi Ayanda,
First of all a CD4 count of 450 is still very strong an indicates your immune system is doing well. Guidelines in the UK don’t recommend starting treatment until your CD4 is 350 or less so you’re still well above this point. Secondly any unexpected test result- CD4 or viral load- should be checked with another test. This is because there are lots of reasons why this might not be an accurate result. So it’s a good idea to do another test if you can.
If you could tell me a bit more about your situation I may be able to give you more information. Could you tell me when you were diagnosed? Could you tell me how often you have CD4 counts tested? And could you tell me what your doctor has said about this result? Sorry for so many questions but this information is important to allow me to understand your situation more clearly.
Hi Salahudin,
I’m sorry to hear about your recent diagnosis. It is very normal that your doctor would want you to have more than one CD4 and viral load test before starting treatment. Most treatment guidelines recommend starting treatment if your CD4 is under 350 or your viral load is over 10,000. These results can vary between tests though which is your doctor would want to confirm any test before starting treatment. You might like to read out Introduction to combination therapy for more information. The guide includes information about CD4 count and viral load tests.
I’m sorry but I’m not sure what suflex is, could you tell me more about this?
Hello sir I am newly diagnosed HIV I am not starting treatment now. My doctor says after you have 2 CD4 and viral load tests to start your medicines. I have 1 more problem suflex, tell me please what is suflex?