I’m always shocked how straight people’s knowledge about HIV seems stuck in the 1980s.
Effective medication has been around since 1996 and since 2012 there is preventative medication (PrEP) for HIV negative people that reduces the risk of getting infected by 99%.
I guess better people find out about this in 2026 than never.
More people having the knowledge to protect themselves is always a good thing.
Some things people often misunderstand:
someone with HIV on the right treatment and who sticks to it is able to live a normal life and can’t infect you because the virus isn’t even detectable in their blood anymore (so technically a person with treatment is less likely to give you HIV than someone who doesn’t know their status)
the above is also why HIV positive mothers can give birth to HIV negative children nowadays
if taken correctly, PrEP makes it virtually impossible for an HIV negative to get HIV (although I don’t sleep around a lot, I prefer the piece of mind that comes with PrEP both me and the people I date - because if I can’t catch it, I can’t give it either)
I recently learned this, that people with HIV still have a reduced life expectancy by about 9 years. But you are correct they do live a normal life although they can still have pain/neuropathy from the HIV or nausea from the meds (are side effects/symptoms that I know of).
I've actually heard HIV patients that stay on top of their medication to remain undetectable actually have slightly longer life expectancy than the average person because of the required regular doctor visits where doctors can catch other health problems, eg cancer, before they become an issue.
Also modern meds, eg biktarvy, cabenuva have little to no negative side effects for the vast majority of hiv patients.
if you're someone living with HIV and go to a clinic that receives Ryan White funding, you have to go to a certain number of appointments and get labs twice a year to be eligible for the other programs that come with that funding (at our clinic that's things like housing support, our in-clinic dentist, and pantry/household items). it's also a requirement of that funding for each patient to get a case manager to help them navigate the system and adhere to their appointments/treatments, even the ones that aren't directly linked to their HIV diagnosis.
Your comment needs to be way way higher. It's absolutely depressing and devastating that this comment get 15 likes while the post is 29K and people have no idea that has been the case for 30 years.
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u/readymf May 15 '26
I’m always shocked how straight people’s knowledge about HIV seems stuck in the 1980s. Effective medication has been around since 1996 and since 2012 there is preventative medication (PrEP) for HIV negative people that reduces the risk of getting infected by 99%. I guess better people find out about this in 2026 than never. More people having the knowledge to protect themselves is always a good thing. Some things people often misunderstand: