Johannesburg - It has taken one man disclosing his HIV status to the world to put the spotlight on what is known and largely unknown about the virus.
On Tuesday, US actor Charlie Sheen revealed he was HIV-positive in an interview with Matt Laueron the US TV show Today. Sheen, 50, said he learnt he had the virus about four years ago and that he wasn't sure how he contracted it.
After the airing of the interview, a news and social media storm brewed over the actor's disclosure, with some admitting they didn't understand what his doctor Robert Huizenga meant when he said the virus was undetectable in Sheen's blood.
The hashtags #CharlieSheen, #CharlieSheenGaveMe and #CharlieSheenTigerBlood were trending topics for hours after the announcement, with some spewing racial hatred, claiming he had “African monkey blood” and some confusing HIV for Aids.
Dr Sindisiwe van Zyl, an HIV clinician and advocate, said on Wednesday: “The matter was handled in a sensational manner - as expected. I really don't understand why it had to be a big announcement. The reactions that I saw on Twitter highlighted just how long we have to go with regard to understanding HIV. The myths are still there and a lot of work still needs to be done.”
Explaining what viral load and detection were, Van Zyl said: “Viral load is the number of HIV copies in your blood. When you start taking antiretroviral treatment, we expect these copies to decrease in number. An undetectable viral load tells me that you're taking your treatment well and the virus is under control.
“The lower the viral load is, the lower the risk of HIV transmission. This is the principle behind the proposal to start everyone on treatment as soon as they test positive. The idea is that the lower the community viral load is, the lower the risk of new infections will be. The risk is not 100 percent eliminated, and this is why condoms must still be used.”
According to the latest global statistics from UNAids, 15 million people were accessing antiretroviral therapy by March 2015 and, 36.9 million globally were living with HIV.
Sheen said in the interview that he had told people he trusted about his status, but he was blackmailed by others to keep his status a secret - a revelation that Marina Rifkin, an epidemiologist working as the public health specialist at CareWorks, a HIV management organisation, reckons is “alarming and sad because of the levels of stigma”.
The Star