HIV/AIDS was once a death sentence but the virus is now treatable
Artist Tiko Kerr pulls down a large cardboard box from a shelf in his East Vancouver studio. It’s overflowing with empty pill bottles.
“These are my meds. This is what keeps me alive.”
The prominent artist was nearly killed by HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
In 2005, existing treatments were failing and the virus was running rampant in his bloodstream.
“I was putting my affairs in order; I didn’t have a lot of hope.”
He and other activists, backed by leading AIDS researcher, Dr. Julio Montaner, lobbied for access to experimental drugs in the hopes they would save Kerr and others on death’s doorstep.
They won the noisy, public battle and the drugs – a new version of “the cocktail” mix of medications – worked. Kerr’s viral load dropped dramatically within days.
“You can’t kill a virus, but you can suppress it, and it’s what’s happened to me,” Kerr said of his HIV infection, which still requires daily doses of drugs.
The drugs are so effective, HIV is now undetectable in his system.
Many viruses, including the common cold, can’t be cured, while some, such as hepatitis C can be eliminated with antiviral drugs.
Vaccines work to prevent some viruses, but don’t help those already infected.