HIV no longer ‘ a death sentence’ , claim health specialists

People with HIV can live as long as HIV negative people if diagnosed early and then start treatment, claim health specialists as the National HIV testing week starts.

Sessions promoting HIV testing are taking place during week around Lancashire. The campaign is part of the year’s National HIV testing week when specialists will be offering information and free HIV tests, which give a result for 60 seconds.

Yvonne Bairstow is sexual health practitioner and HIV support specialist. As parto of Healthier living group commissioned by Lancashire County Council, she encourages people in Preston to test for HIV.

She explained that the a positive result does not longer means a death sentence. Unfortunately, she said, the interest in the campaign depends on the venue.

“ Last Saturday night we were in Oblivion, the only gay bar in Preston and everybody was coming over and have a chat — its more accepted in that community. However, it is pretty quiet today.”

In the UK there are 107,000 people living with HIV across the country and around 429 in Lancashire. Only for the last year and estimated 18,100 people were having the infection without knowing.

Specialists insist that knowing whether you are HIV positive or not is essential for prevention the spread of the infection.

Among the main risk groups of contracting are men who have sex with men and people from black African communities.