Please help!

[momof2]

Does anyone here know of a young, white, heterosexual, non iv drug user, no transfusions,  being diagnosed hiv+, did not medicate,  then diagnosed as AIDS 8 months later without ever being sick? He only got checked bc his girlfriend cheated on him and she is negative

[Ann]

Sure, there are a lot of people who roughly answer that description (honestly, the white, non-drug-user, heterosexual aspects are unnecessary details - the only detail that matters is that he's HUMAN). Why do you ask?

[momof2]

I'm just looking for answers.  I've been doing a lot of research and found somewhere that the chances of that happening are .04%. This virus seems so cunning and I am starting why some people can be in denial when they aren't and haven't sick all but CD4 keeps dropping.

[Jeff G]

You can get lucky and live for a time with a low cd4 count and one day wake up with a life threatening or terminal opportunistic infection , so if his cd4 count is consistently falling below the 350 range then treatment is crucial in order to survive this virus .

I lived for a decade with anywhere from 50 to a 150 cd4 count and then developed cancer . I have had friends die in as little as 2 years after testing poz . Untreated HIV is a game of chance a person will not win in the end if the cd4 continues to fall .

Please provide a more specific reason you are asking this question if you don't mind ?

[intaglio]

This virus seems so cunning and I am starting why some people can be in denial when they aren't and haven't sick all but CD4 keeps dropping.

I ended a long-term relationship with a guy. I went and got tested one final time. It came back negative. I now know I should have done a follow-up test. But, hey, all my other tests had all come back negative. After my experience with him (and the lack of others to take his place) I stopped having sex with guys.

Six months before I was diagnosed, my primary care doc noticed my white blood cell count was doing odd things. He sent me to an oncologist/hematologist. They couldn't find anything wrong.

It took developing a sinus infection that wouldn't respond to antibiotics, my doc deciding I should be hospitalized for further tests, that I was diagnosed with pneumonia caused by one of those bugs that signify AIDS. (So I got an upgrade on my original diagnosis of HIV )

All the while, I was just feeling like I was fighting another sinus infection. I didn't feel anything but a bit run down. I ended up having more problems with the Bactrim they prescribed to fight the pneumonia - it landed me in the hospital a month later due to a toxic reaction to it.

So that's how this guy walked around for five years with HIV in his system and had no clue.

[mecch]

Hello
1) Diagnosis Date  does NOT alway equal  infection date.
When your friend was diagnosed, did he get an estimate how long he had been infected PRE-DIAGNOSIS.
Just to help in your Sherlock Holmsing....

2) You seem to be amazed at the rate of "progression to AIDS."  Yes someone can get the virus one month, and be very sick a few months later.....  Not the usual experience but its not all that uncommon... 

To help your Sherlock Holmsing....  What is the opportunistic infection he has that defines the "AIDS diagnosis"?   You say he is not sick but if he is not sick he doesn't have AIDS....    AIDS means a low CD4 AND AN INFECTION.....  Some doctors are loose with the term and some patients are bad listeners.  Its possible your friend didn't quite understand and may not have an "AIDS DIAGNOSIS" - he may have low CD4 in the "AIDS category" or "RISK for AIDS category" which is not the same as a diagnosis.  Get it?

3)  It doesn't matter if he is a fast progressor, if he has AIDS or doesnt have AIDS, he can take treatment and get healthy again...

4)  The concentration on the ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation --- whats that got to do with progression to AIDS rate?  NOT MUCH OR NOTHING.  I call bull you got any details with those factors in your research to come up with your .04%......

Why would a transfusion have anything to do with rate of CD4 decline??

All the stuff in category 4 - please let go..... You're wasting your time if you are trying to find research with all these categories....

Its 2013... Your friend can get medical treatment and deal effectively with the HIV infection..

Sounds like there is some problem in his couple that is motivating these questions, anyway.....   Something this trying to be proved or disproved or something....