Testing Positive Is No Longer A Death Sentence

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Testing positive is no longer a death sentence

By Pongphon Sarnsamak

The Nation

Published on December 1, 2009

Testing positive is no longer a death sentence

A 25-year-old who calls himself "a man without love" or khon rai rak nearly committed suicide when he learned that he had tested HIV positive six months ago.

Now, however, he has decided to spend the rest of his life helping people gain a better understanding about the disease and its treatment via the Internet.

More than 57 comments have been posted since June on his website pha.narak.com, on which he shares information about his health and his CD4 count - the number of white-blood cells that play a key role in the immune system.

"I want people to be conscious when they have sex with their partner," he told The Nation. "Don't trust people you have sex with just because they are handsome or beautiful. Don't go by appearances because they may not be good inside."

His comments get at least 200 responses every day, with most visitors encouraging him not to give up and giving him tips on dealing with heath and stress issues.

"Someday this disease can be treated. Don't give up," one respondent who goes by the name Kan said on the website.

The "man without love" lived his life like most other gay men - frequently changing partners - until one of his friends urged him to have his blood tested for HIV.

"My friend told me that I would feel like a young man if my blood test came out negative. So I decided to go for it when why office organised its annual health check up for employees," he said.

Unfortunately, the news was not good. He found out that he had contracted the virus from his boyfriend, and realised that the disease had no boundaries of gender, age or ethnicity.

"I never thought my boyfriend would have HIV, so I never used a condom with him," he explained. "I don't want to blame him for this - it's my fault that I was irresponsible.

"At the time I did not know much about the HIV virus. I was thinking that I would die young and leave my family in shame," he said. "So I just locked myself up in my room for a few days and started thinking aout suicide."

Six months later, though, everything has changed. He realised that testing HIV positive did not mean that he had to live a life of shame and sickness.

"The doctor told me that I did not have to leave my boyfriend, and that I could take antiviral drugs to help fight the disease. There is hope for me," he said.

So, the "man without love" started taking his antiviral drugs and adopted a healthier lifestyle.

Four months ago, his CD4 cell count was 191 and now it has increased to 211.

"The only thing I have to do is take the medicine on time, exercise regularly and not be under stress," he said.

Like other chronic diseases, people living with HIV/Aids have to take medication for their entire lives.

"But I am sure that in the near future there will be some thing better, because many scientists around the world are now working to find a new way to fight HIV/Aids," he said.

Over the past 25 years or so, more than a million Thais are estimated to have contracted HIV, while some 516,632 are still living with the disease.

According to Public Health Ministry estimates, about 11,753 more people will contract HIV this year mostly through unsafe sex.

Department of Disease Control's Aids division director, Dr Somyot Kittimunkong, estimates that the second wave of HIV/Aids pandemic is on its way because the rate of infections has increased drastically among housewives, sex workers, men who have sex with men, conscripts and teenagers.

Somyot blames this on the lack of efforts to raise awareness among people about the prevention of HIV infections.

-- The Nation 2009/12/1

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