I hope I find you in good health. One of the readers of this column sent me this email.

Dear Dr Chimedza,
My wife who is pregnant went for her routine antenatal care visit three weeks ago. Her doctor did an HIV test on her and it was positive. I was then persuaded to take my own HIV test which also came back positive. I was shocked, devastated and felt a bit numb. I just shoved it out of my mind. A week down the line I just started dwelling on death. Where will I be buried? Who will look after my family? I finally just cried and wailed until I was exhausted. I have been reading your column doctor, what shall I do next ? Who shall I see? Does that mean I now have AIDS? Please help me I am desperate.
Thank You
N.M.(not his real initials)

There are many people like N.M. who have just been diagnosed HIV positive and don't know what step to take. It can be very scary to learn that your HIV test is positive, but it's not a death sentence. HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. Being HIV-positive does not mean that you have AIDS, but it does mean that you may develop AIDS. Many people are alive and well fifteen years or more after testing positive. A positive result is an important medical message that may help you save or extend your life. Whether you took the test or not, sooner or later you would have learned of your HIV status. Even though there is no cure for HIV disease, there are many new treatments that help keep the disease under control example antiretroviral drugs.

If you learn by testing, you have a chance to slow or prevent some of the possible health consequences. Even if you didn't get tested, HIV would have presented itself at some point as an infection or damage to your immune system. And, if you had waited for HIV disease to present itself, many of your best medical options would have been lost already. So being tested for HIV is always a clever move.

When you first find out that you have HIV, you'll need to adjust to this change in your life. Family members or friends might be able to help you, or you could talk with a counselor. The real work, however, is up to you. Given the right attitude and the right information, most people can live for a long, long time. Getting informed and taking charge of your health will help you make the best of your situation. Take your time and don't feel pressured to tell everyone right away about your HIV status. It helps to start learning more about HIV disease and to keep track of your immune system. Here are some of the things you need to know about this virus.

It is a virus that can multiply rapidly in your body. Your immune system helps keep your body healthy by recognizing and attacking foreign substances, like viruses or bacteria. HIV attacks your immune system and without treatment, it can make your immune system very weak, gradually impairing how it functions. Over time, if it becomes seriously damaged or weakened that your body loses its ability to fight certain infections and cancers. These certain infections or cancers capitalize on your weak immune system and pounce on you causing serious illnesses. These are called opportunistic infections (OIs). People with healthy immune systems can be exposed to these same opportunistic infections and not get sick.

AIDS is the most serious outcome of HIV infection. The presence of these OIs in your body points to a significantly damaged immune system. This gradual destruction of the immune system doesn't happen the same way in everyone, or even at the same pace. In some, it may not happen at all. In a small percentage of people, HIV destroys their immune systems very rapidly, in just a few years. But others remain well for 10-15 years or longer. On average, without using anti-HIV therapy, most people remain well for about ten years before facing their first serious symptoms.

HIV is a "spectrum" illness, all who are infected have the same disease, but there are different stages to it. AIDS is the name given only to the later most serious stage. In the earlier stages, people are HIV-positive, meaning they tested positive to an HIV antibody test but they have no life-threatening symptoms of illness. If left untreated, most people generally progress along the spectrum toward AIDS.

Studies have shown that HIV is a progressive disease that leads to symptomatic illness in most people over time. Children born with HIV and people infected through blood transfusion seem to get sick more quickly. Studies also suggest that when women have access to and seek regular care and monitoring, their progression rates are similar to and perhaps even slower than men.
Why people progress at different rates is uncertain. It may be due to differences in the strain of HIV a person gets. Others believe it is influenced by genetic differences in people, while others suspect that lifestyle factors make a difference or it could be a combination of the three.
As for N.M. you need to see your doctor. He or she will do some tests to determine at what stage of the disease you are. He or she will also give you nutritional advice and advice on what to do should you get sick.

Till next week take care of yourself and each other. And remember, '…in all your getting, get understanding.' (Proverbs 4 verse 7).