In South Africa, where coronavirus was first detected in March, doctors have scrambled to organise testing and treatment for the approximately 7.5m people who are thought to be HIV-positive, reports Business Day. Only about two-thirds of people with HIV and Aids are on antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, according to health experts. The rest are either unaware of their condition or are opposed to taking medication.
Anton Stoltz, head of the infectious diseases department at the University of Pretoria is quoted in Business Day as saying: “We know that patients who are HIV-positive and are on ARVs react and respond to viral infections like influenza in similar ways to people without HIV.” Patients who are not undergoing treatment, however, are more vulnerable to other infections.
“HIV-positive individuals not yet on ARV therapy or those who don't know they are HIV-positive may in fact (be) at higher risks of acquiring COVID-19,” said Kogie Naidoo, head of treatment research at the Centre for the Aids Programme of Research in SA (Caprisa). It is therefore essential for people to “know their status” and start medication “as soon as possible”, ideally on the day of the diagnosis.
The report says at Witkoppen Clinic in northern Johannesburg, doctors have only one message for HIV-positive patients amid the coronavirus outbreak: get tested and take ARVS. Clinic director Jean Bassett said she had seen an increase in the number of patients seeking ARV therapy over the past two weeks. “They are coming because of COVID-19,” Bassett said. “It is a very good sign,” she added. “COVID-19 seems to be a far more fearful outcome than HIV.”
Bassett hoped the pandemic would serve as a “wake-up call” for HIV patients to “take responsibility” and start medication.
[link url="https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2020-04-09-more-south-africans-seek-arv-therapy-due-to-covid-19/"]Full Business Day report[/link]