An HIV virus attacking a healthy blood cell A official claim that Australia has beaten AIDS has been labelled misleading and dangerous by a prominent HIV/AIDS researcher this side of the Tasman. Australian researchers and the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations, AFAO, have announced that AIDS is a thing of the past in their country, with the number of people now being diagnosed with AIDS so small as to not be recorded. However, announcing the virtual disappearance of AIDS, a dangerous and sometimes fatal health condition which can arise from the progression of HIV infection, may too be easily interpreted as the end of HIV, says an NZ HIV epidemiology expert. The Australian claims are "quite misleading, almost dangerously so, because many people do not distinguish between AIDS and HIV," says University of Otago AIDS epidemiology group lead researcher Sue McAllister. "It could lead to more complacency around thinking that it's no longer important, or we don't have to take care or use condoms, or we don't have to have tests to see whether we are HIV positive." Thanks to improved drug treatments cases of HIV in New Zealand rarely progress to AIDS, but HIV infection is incurable and those infected must adhere to a strict and sometimes difficult drug regime for the rest of their lives. Annual numbers of new HIV infections detected in New Zealand are at an all-time high with just on 70% of newly detected infections being amongst gay and bisexual men.
Credit: GayNZ,com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 12th July 2016 - 8:57pm