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Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
Rebound to detectable levels in people’s blood in just a few weeks, putting sexual partners at risk. Babies born to mothers with HIV can escape infection only if the woman was properly treated during pregnancy or the infant is treated immediately after birth.If the drugs are not taken, a body is heading toward AIDS, the final stage of infection.“Without HIV treatment, people with AIDS typically survive about three years,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.For a long time, there may be no noticeable symptoms. But a person can easily spread HIV to others, and the immune system becomes vulnerable to what are called opportunistic diseases.The National Institutes of Health says opportunistic diseases include fungal infections, pneumonia, salmonella and tuberculosis. For a country like South Africa, with the world’s highest number of HIV cases and one of the largest numbers of TB cases, the toll could be immense.Unchecked by HIV treatment, the damage continues. The immune system is increasingly unable to fight off diseases. Every action, from eating to travel, must consider the potential exposure to germs.For years, the importance of taking the drugs every day, even at the same time of day, has been emphasized to people with HIV. Now the ability to follow that essential rule has been shaken.Already, hundreds or thousands of U.S.-funded health partners in countries such as Kenya and Ethiopia have been laid off, causing widespread gaps in HIV testing, messaging, care and support on the continent most helped by PEPFAR. At some African clinics, people with HIV have been turned away.Restoring the effects caused by the Trump administration's foreign aid freeze during a 90-day review period, and understanding what’s allowed under the waiver for PEPFAR, will take time that health experts say many people don't have.Meanwhile, the head of the U.N. AIDS agency, Winnie Byanyima, told the AP that more resistant strains of the disease could emerge.And an additional 3.4 million children could be made orphans — another echo of the time when the world raced to confront AIDS with few tools at hand.___Follow coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/us-agency-for-international-development
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