Living with a silent killer

Nobody wants to be infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, but it doesn’t have to stop you from enjoying life if it is detected early enough and if you are willing to make lifestyle changes, according to local health officials.

“It’s something you can manage,” says Anne Westlake. “HIV is like anything else - if you do things to make your life better, you are going to do better.”

Westlake is a health specialist with the Sutter County Health Department’s HIV and AIDS Prevention Program.

Unlike the pall of death that hung over someone who was diagnosed with the potentially fatal virus 20 years ago, medical advances are helping keep people infected with HIV from developing AIDS, which can prove deadly.

Seven daily pills, a regular workout regiment and an “I will survive” attitude help 52-year-old Jesse Moreno of Yuba County prove daily that an HIV diagnosis doesn’t lead to a death sentence. Moreno, who was diagnosed with HIV in 1996, is often called upon to share his story of survival with groups.

“I really maintain my health, I don’t do anything to re-infect myself,” said Moreno.

Saturday marks World AIDS Day. Now in its 20th year, the annual Dec. 1 observation is designed to raise awareness about the AIDS pandemic. More than 25 million people around the world have died of AIDS-related diseases and another 33 million are living with HIV/AIDS, according to UNAIDS/World Health Organization estimates.

It is unclear what the overall infection picture is locally because, until recently, California has not followed a unified reporting system for reported infections, said local officials. What is known is that 5 to 10 new HIV continue to be reported annually in Sutter County, said Alice Williams-Root, a nurse with the Sutter County Health Department who works with Westlake.

In Yuba County, that figure is 1 or 0, said Vall Spooner, director of nurses for Yuba County Health Department.

Westlake says there is still a tendency among those at risk to avoid getting tested either because of the stigma attached to the virus or fear of the unknown.

Spooner said the success of HIV medications also has had an unintended consequence: some people at risk view the virus as no big deal.

“It’s a misnomer,” Spooner said. “How long a life you lead depends on how risky your behavior is.”

As part of their outreach to the community, Westlake and Williams-Root visit local substance-abuse facilities to offer HIV tests to a population that might otherwise not avail itself to testing.

It’s on visits like these, when she meets with large groups of people, that the gap in HIV education is evident, Westlake said.

“I ask them, ‘what do you think of when you think of HIV?’ ” Westlake said. “And they still say ‘death’ and ‘dying.’ ”

And that’s when Westlake offers education. She explains to people that if they are willing to abandon their high-risk behavior such as sharing needles and having unprotected sex, they can lower their risk of contracting HIV or AIDS. HIV is contracted through exchange of body fluids, such as during anal-receptive sex and intravenous drug use (including steroids).

Over time and without treatment, HIV can develop into AIDS, which means an individual’s immunity to stave off infection is gravely compromised.

Moreno said at one point his T-cell count (a measurement for immunity) was so low that he had officially fallen into the grasp of AIDS.

But he rebounded and abandoned behaviors that put his health at risk. Now Moreno is in a monogamous relationship, does not smoke, has an occasional cocktail and is fanatical about keeping fit.

Says Moreno, “You have to live for yourself.”

Sukhjit Purewal is a local freelance writer. E-mail her at sukhjit_P@yahoo.com.