Dear Doctor,

I was detected HIV+ 2 years back, my CD4 count is around 450. My concern is what is the average life of each treatment. Is it possible to know how long can one survive. I live in India and can afford good drugs

Your question is an excellent one. The short answer is we don't know and it probably varies considerably from person to person. That being said, I believe that the majority of people who work closely with their provider will be able to find a well tolerated, relatively simple regimen that will get their viral load to undetectable levels. Once this is achieved I believe that as long as therapy is taken consistently it will last many, many years, if not forever.

The people I described above are becoming increasingly common amongst those starting therapy for the first time. I am very optimistic that these individuals may never suffer the consequences of HIV infection. Forever is a long time so I realize I can be wrong and it is possible that regimens will ultimately fail after many years. Nevertheless, my feeling is that even if that does occur there are already many alternative drugs available, with many more on the horizon, thus I can not imagine that we will not be able to stay ahead of the virus.

Best, Eric