This is scary

[stuka]

So apparently, HIV is still finding a way to beat the latest advances in medicine ...

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-10-hiv-tissues-patients.html

I'm doing well on complera, and thought as long as I took the pills on time and stayed healthy, I'd live a normal lifespan. But after reading this report, it's like someone punched me in my guts.

What's the point of living a normal lifespan when the virus would cause other non-AIDS-related diseases like cancer, etc.

[Jim Allen]

I will be honest this does not sound new to me at all, I will check tomorrow when I have more time to find a correct reference but HIV levels in tissue is not a new fact at all. Its also nothing to stress about.

Jim

[Ptrk3]

There's no reason to believe you won't live a normal lifespan because of this single, isolated study.  The operate verb throughout is "may" and "could," so even if the study is true, that does not mean that any particular individual will develop any specific non-aids-related disease.  Other studies may draw different conclusions.

However, it may help you to determine with your doctor how to look out especially for any preliminary signs of all non-aids-related diseases ( a regular colonoscopy, an annual heart examination, etc.) and/or take particular precautions in your daily life (such as diet and exercise, for example).  That type of scrutiny can add years to an individual life, whether or not one is infected by the HIV.

In the meantime, keep doing well on your Complera and continue to live a long and healthy life.

[Jim Allen]

Yeah, so this is the same stuff i read a few month back. http://jvi.asm.org/content/90/20/8968

I am not seeing any concern, we already knew about HIV reservoirs, this changes nothing it just help us understand them slightly better. HIV infecting macrophages was also already well known.*

*
https://retrovirology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1742-4690-9-82

Jim

[mecch]

What's the point of living a normal lifespan when the virus would cause other non-AIDS-related diseases like cancer, etc.

Nobody promised me a rose garden - that HIV infection was harmless, despite the very optimistic and reassuring words from my specialist that treatment would allow me to work and live my life normally. Treatment has done that. 

Were you expecting that ALL issues related to HIV infection were "cured" by treatment?

Please put things in perspective.  Before today's treatment, HIV was a horror show.  Nothing by sickness, suffering, pain and death.

[mecch]

Just wanted to add that, semantically, if HIV in tissues is causing cancers or cardio-vascular disease, it IS HIV-related disease.  I don't think I will ever had AIDS.  Really I don't.  But if I go from a cancer linked to HIV, that wouldn't shock me.
Cancers are related to HPV, too.  And I got that, too.  Something is going to get me, probably before 90, like a few members of my family do reach.

[CaveyUK]

Yep, when I read one of these new batch of articles the other day my heart stopped for a second, but then I realised there was nothing new.

All it's saying is that the meds we take do not touch the viral reservoirs, which we already knew.

However, it doesn't affect transmission risks as the undetectable levels of virus in the blood (and semen) take care of that.

What it does do, is mean that there is a resultant issue of low level inflammation, which again we knew about. And that this can lead to certain issues with age-related disorders in 'some' people as they age - most of which can be treated of course. Again, nothing new, and something that many of us hope the latest research will target.

Another point....all the specimens tested came from people who already had cancer, but there any many many folks living with HIV into old age who do not have cancer.

Interestingly, there is a terminology error in this report too. It states that :

The research team found evolving "wild type" HIV, that is virus unaffected by antiretroviral therapy, in the cerebellum, lymph nodes, lungs, colons, and spleens amongst others tissues.

'Wild-Type' HIV does not mean it is unaffected by antiretroviral therapy, it means it is susceptible to all antiretroviral therapy. Perhaps it is just a clumsy use of the word when they mean the same thing. But someone on effective ART can have 'wild type' HIV determined through genotyping - in fact, most people do.

If someone starts with any resistant strain of HIV, then regardless of what happens with ART, their bodies will not reverse-engineer the viral strain to be 'wild type'.

Thats my understanding anyway

[CaveyUK]

Just wanted to add that, semantically, if HIV in tissues is causing cancers or cardio-vascular disease, it IS HIV-related disease.  I don't think I will ever had AIDS.  Really I don't.  But if I go from a cancer linked to HIV, that wouldn't shock me.
Cancers are related to HPV, too.  And I got that, too.  Something is going to get me, probably before 90, like a few members of my family do reach.

Unless it's a cancer known to be specific/unique to HIV, you'd probably never know whether it was truly related as cancers can be 'caused' or influenced by a variety of factors, some just genetic. Ditto with cardiovascular disease....for me personally, if I had cardiovascular disease then it *could* be HIV related, or could be the years of mistreatment I dealt my body through terrible diet and lack of exercise!

You are quite right of course, that the situation not very long ago was very bleak for people living with this virus, and in most cases meant a horrible death of AIDS. These days, with modern meds, we can live long lives with few - if any - side-effects and in most cases will die of something boringly mundane, just like everyone else.

Very many people would have swapped their mid-80's prognosis with the prospect of treatable cardiovascular or cancer risks in later life, in a heartbeat.

[harleymc]

So you're scared because HIV treatment is not preventative for cancer? Then start acting like you are going to live a long time and start reducing your cancer risk factors.

ART has never been marketed as a cancer prevention strategy.

[Tonny2]

            HELLO MY FRIEND HOW NICE TO HEAR FROM YOU AGAIN, WELCOME HOME AGAIN.

ALMOST 22 YEARS AGO, THE DOCTOR TOLD ME THAT I WOULD LIVE ONLY TWO MORE YEARS, I SAID TO MYSELF, WE''LL SEE, EVEN WHEN I LIVED WITH AIDS FOR FIVE YEARS BECAUSE OF TREATMENT FAILURE, I STILL TOOK THE MEDS, EVEN THOUGH I KNEW THEY WERE NOT WORKING, JUST CAUSING ME MORE PROBLEMS (NEUROPATHY), AND, I'M STILL HERE, WRITING TO YOU, PLEASE, LIVE YOUR PRESENT, IT'S THE ONLY THING WE HAVE, OUR LIVES IN PRESENT TIME, ENJOY YOUR FAMILY, FRIENDS, LIFE ITSELF, DO NOT WORRY UNTIL YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO WORRY ABOUT...CAN YOU IMAGINE WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED TO ME IF I WOULD HAVE STOPPED LIVING MY THEN PRESENT AND THINK ABOUT MY FUTURE?, I WOULDN'T BE HERE, I ALWAYS HAD FAITH, I'M NOT A RELIGIOUS GUY, BUT I'VE ALWAYS SEE THINGS ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, EVEN THOUGH I'M BECOMING A BLIND GUY, LOL, STILL "SEE THE LIGHT AFTER THE TUNNEL"...gIN migo, enjoy the present, it's the only thing we have for sure, live everyday as it was your last one...just a thought  ojo

ps, again, so nice to have you back on here...hugs