I know a few hundred folks (ok, maybe I'm rounding up a bit), who are still around when 20 years ago they might not have been.
I have not polled any of them, but I'll venture to say they're fairly happy. While they might not 'celebrate' the day, but in possibly small ways, they celebrate it every single day.
I am well passed half my life - even by my family's longevity - but I feel it's unlikely there will be a cure while I walk this earth.
Every so often a story circulates about a gene that can be modified to kill the AIDS virus. Or someone who no longer has the virus and has been free of it for x amount of time. Or there is a breakthrough in the lab on a medication.
All are encouraging on some level, but none of them seem to quite pan out. That is what labs and science are for - trial and error.
But HIV and AIDS is a tricky thing. Maybe there will never be a universal cure. Maybe it will be like cancer - some are cured, some in remission and some about which one just can't do anything.
Like anything, it's about managing expectations. The good news is, with proper care and medications (and a health plan that will cover both), survival and fewer adverse reactions exist.
So yes - Happy World AIDS Day. ....at least as long it's not a 3rd world country who doesn't have the advantages we experience. Let's hope our advances can become theirs as well.
Song by: Todd Herzog
2 comments:
Thanks for kicking my day off with this, yes I'm up at 3 am PST to get ready for a flight east, as I will sound my day grateful for all my friends who are still here with me thanks to the advances in care.
They told us we were still about another 8 - 10 years away from curing herpes...in 1985. The vested interest in the drug and medical community is in a drug - not a cure.
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