This past December (2011) my sister was not feeling well, her daughter had left out of the country and my sister c/o feeling very tired and short of breath and wheezing considerably. She would often sit alone In the dark watching the same movie over and over, since it was the holiday, I went into her area of the home (shared with a relative) and talked to her for a while, I told her I would take her to the ED the next morning. I took her to the hospital the next morning and she seemed to not want me in the same room as her upon checking into registration. I walked into the to behind her and they had already had in a wheelchair being taken back to the ER, the family had thought for a while that she was hiding an illness (we thought hep.) So, I informed the Dr. And RN of this went by her side. She was admitted to the ICU and tests were ran and since my sister had been so elusive, we wanted to make sure she had someone with her the entire time. She was transferred to a larger hospital where the steaminess she had PCP, Candiasis, and dermatitis from....AIDS. She (according to her) had contracted HIV within the past 5years and was without treatment for the duration of that time. She is now been on ART (atripla, bactrim 10000, etc.) But no other efforts have been made (not even contacting past partners, support outlets, etc.) she is living as if she is not living with AiDS. My question is, what is the life expectancy of someone who did not receive treatment for HIV but is receiving treatment for the AIDS, she has not had significant evidence of wasting, but does present some symptoms of mental issues, (mood swings, etc.) she has not even told her daughter who is pregnant......please what do I do ??????

She is on the correct HIV treatment, and much of what you are seeing is reversible, once her HIV viral load becomes undetectable and her CD4 count increases above 200 (the definition of AIDS is a CD4 count < 200 or <14%). You did the right thing and got her into treatment. Hopefully when she is feeling better she can disclose to her daughter what is going on.