Sheen turns spotlight back on HIV/Aids and all the myths
IT HAS taken one man disclosing his HIV status to the world to put a spotlight what is still known and largely unknown about the virus.
On Tuesday, US actor Charlie Sheen revealed he was HIVpositive in an interview with Matt Lauer on the US TV show Today. Sheen, 50, said he learnt he had the virus about four years ago and that he wasn’t entirely sure how he contracted it.
Following the airing of the interview, a news and social media storm brewed over the news, with some admitting they did not understand what his doctor, Robert Huizenga, meant when he said the virus was undetectable in Sheen's blood.
The hashtags #CharlieSheen, #CharlieSheenGaveMe and #CharlieSheen Tiger Blood were trending topics for hours after the announcement, with some spewing racial hatred claiming he had “African monkey blood” and some confusing HIV with Aids.
Dr Sindisiwe van Zyl, an HIV clinician and advocate, said yesterday: “The matter was handled in a sensational manner – as expected. I really do not understand why it had to be a big announcement. The reactions that I saw on Twitter highlighted just how long we have to go with regards to understanding HIV. The myths are still there and a lot of work still needs to be done.”
Explaining what viral load and detection were, Van Zyl said: “Viral load is the number of HIV copies in your blood. When you start taking antiretroviral treatment we expect these copies to decrease in number. An undetectable viral load tells me that you’re taking your treatment well and the virus is under control. The lower the viral load is, the lower the risk of HIV transmission. This is the principle behind the proposal to start everyone on treatment as soon as they test positive. The idea is that the lower the community viral load is, the lower the risk of new infections. The risk is not 100% eliminated, and this is why condoms must still be used.”
According to the latest global statistics from UNAids, 15 million people are having antiretroviral therapy (by March 2015), and 36.9 million people globally are living with HIV.
Sheen said in the interview that he had told people he trusted about his status but was also blackmailed by others to keep his status a secret, a revelation that to Marina Rifkin – an epidemiologist working as the public health specialist at CareWorks, an HIV management organisation – was “alarming and sad”.
She said: “It was sad because of the personal levels of stigma he felt. He used the words, ‘I admit that I am in fact HIV positive.’ HIV is not a crime. It is sad that he felt that he had this secret that people could blackmail him over. Justice Cameron and Magic Johnson have used their status to champion the cause; I hope he (Sheen) does so too.”