This is What Happens to the Body When HIV Drugs Are Stopped
A generation has passed since the world saw the peak in AIDS-related deaths. Those deaths — agonizing, from diseases or infections the body might otherwise fight off — sent loved ones into the streets, pressuring governments to act. The United States eventually did, creating PEPFAR, arguably the most successful foreign aid program in history. HIV, which causes AIDS, is now manageable, though there is still no cure.
Now the Trump administration has put the brakes on foreign aid while alleging it’s wasteful, causing chaos in the system that for over 20 years has kept millions of people alive. Confusion over a temporary waiver for PEPFAR — and the difficulty of restarting its work, with U.S. workers, contractors and payments in upheaval — means the clock is ticking for many who are suddenly unable to obtain medications to keep AIDS at bay.
The U.S.-led global response to HIV has been so effective that AIDS wards of people wasting away are a vision of the past. Now health experts, patients and others fear those days could return if the Trump administration doesn’t reverse course or no other global power steps into the void, and fast.
An Immune System Collapse
HIV is spread by bodily fluids such as blood, breast milk or semen. It gradually weakens the body’s immune system and makes it vulnerable to disease, including ones rarely seen in otherwise healthy people. The surprising emergence of such cases in the 1980s is what tipped off health experts to what became known as the AIDS epidemic.
Years of intense advocacy and shocking sights of children, young adults and others dying of pneumonia and other infections led to the response that created PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Twenty million people around the world died before the program was founded. Now millions of people take drugs known as antiretrovirals that keep HIV from spreading in the body.
The Daily Danger of Germs
“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.
Every Day Counts
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.
Conclusion
If HIV treatment is stopped, the virus will start multiplying in the body again, and it could become drug-resistant. Additionally, the immune system will become increasingly unable to fight off diseases, making every day a daily danger of germs. The clock is ticking for many who are suddenly unable to obtain medications to keep AIDS at bay, and the world may be on the brink of a new wave of AIDS-related deaths.
FAQs
Q: What is PEPFAR?
A: PEPFAR is the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a program created to combat HIV/AIDS globally.
Q: What happens if HIV treatment is stopped?
A: If HIV treatment is stopped, the virus will start multiplying in the body again, and it could become drug-resistant. The immune system will also become increasingly unable to fight off diseases, making every day a daily danger of germs.
Q: How many people could be affected by the Trump administration’s foreign aid freeze?
A: The United Nations AIDS agency estimates that 6.3 million AIDS-related deaths could occur in the next five years if the aid freeze is not reversed or other global powers step in to fill the void.
