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AIDS Survivors Suffer
Premature Aging
By
PressTV
News
June 12,
2011
US
Thirty
years
after the first patient was diagnosed with AIDS, doctors are
seeing that many of some long-term survivors are suffering from
unanticipated signs of premature or "accelerated" aging, AP reported.
The findings show that HIV positive patients even those who may not
survive for long are more prone to certain types of cancer,
neurological disorders and heart conditions that typically afflict the
elderly.
Moreover, many HIV positive patients in their 40s and 50s are diagnosed
with conditions such as memory loss, arthritis, renal failure and high
blood pressure that mostly occur in older ages.
Studies suggest that HIV does not directly cause premature aging but
may flare up underlying diseases that patients are more likely to show
later on in life, scientists said.
"Coupled with the aging process, the extended exposure of these adults
to both HIV and antiretroviral drugs appears to increase their risk of
illness and death from cardiovascular, bone, kidney, liver and lung
disease, as well as many cancers not associated directly with HIV
infection," said the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
"In those with long-term HIV infection, the persistent activation of
immune cells by the virus likely increases the susceptibility of these
individuals to inflammation-induced diseases and diminishes their
capacity to fight certain diseases," said the US federal health
agency's chiefs of infectious diseases, aging and AIDS research.
"Coupled with the aging process, the extended exposure of these adults
to both HIV and antiretroviral drugs appears to increase their risk of
illness and death from cardiovascular, bone, kidney, liver and lung
disease, as well as many cancers not associated directly with HIV
infection," the health official added.
Loneliness, financial worries and concerns about quality of life
affects long-term AIDS survivors in the same way as the elderly,
Charles Emlet, a social work professor at the University of Washington,
Tacoma, said.
Scientists and health experts are working to develop new treatment
guidelines to help HIV survivors cope with getting frail a decade or
two ahead of schedule and to remain independent for as long as possible.
However, experts emphasize that accelerated aging process in HIV
patients brings up further special needs that governments and health
officials should consider in programs and services considering these
individuals.
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