Person 21 yrs old w full blown aids. This young man went in to hospital w collapsed lung & now being told he's full blown aids. I'm trying to understand when he may have been infected... He is not a drug user, but is gay but this seems way too young to be this sick in this day and age. How in this day and age does this happen? Has he had for long time??? It would seem he was too young? Or is there a more rapid progressing HIV? I worked as a volunteer for people w aids back in late 80's & 90's and didn't see people this young this sick??? I'm trying to make sense of this as he just turned 21 & he is end stage (per IDs covering his case). I'm worried this happened when he couldn't be of consenting age...

The devil is in the details here and thus hard for me to speculate as to what may be going on. A combination of factors may have combined to yield this result, including the type of transmitted virus, underlying genetics and immune system of the person, duration of infection, and other ongoing opportunistic infections.