[rdsport323]

As much as I loved watching Magic Johnson play for the Lakers back in the 1980s, my question is... How the hell is he still alive?

He was diagnosed with HIV way back when which resulted in him having to retire from the game. So, I assumed, with the very little knowledge of AIDS we all had back then that most people usually don't survive longer than 10 years. They said that AIDS is extremely deadly and there is no cure...

So how come he still looks healthy and isn't all skin and bones like Tom Hanks' character was in Philadelphia? I'm guessing that only he can afford the expensive treatments and medication that would slow down the effects of HIV... ? If that were true, then that would suck for all those who aren't fortunate enough to afford such treatment.

any thoughts or guesses?

[DimSum]

Drugs and wackloads of money for treatments

[yoyeewee]

I think he is just the virus carrier, but his virus is not attacking his immune system, yet. Does that make sense?

[mpimping]

he has a lot of money for steroids, growth hormone, ect and drugs. I noticed the same thing... he probably works out a lot too...

[E(@M#]

the ignorance screams from these responses.....educate yourselves....muchprogress has been made in the past 10 years....yes, hiv mutates at an alarming rate....but, lately, a series of cocktails has given people the possibility to lead a somewhat normal life....to put it in simple terms...it prevents the virus from progressing

[SpecC]

HIV imbeds itself in your DNA and props itself into action when a certain promoter tells it to. Magic Johnson may have a bunch of HIV in his system, but they just aren't doing anything yet, so as of now, he's safe.

[Couch]

Originally Posted by E(@M#

the ignorance screams from these responses.....educate yourselves....muchprogress has been made in the past 10 years....yes, hiv mutates at an alarming rate....but, lately, a series of cocktails has given people the possibility to lead a somewhat normal life....to put it in simple terms...it prevents the virus from progressing

True.

I've also heard some "conspiracy" theories on this. That there are vaccines availabe to the ultra-rich. Which is what he was given. I take it with a grain of salt though. Tough to believe.

I believe his HIV was caught very very early on as well. Which can make a huge difference in extending ones life.

[darkcloud]

Wasn't there talk of him being tested and HIV doesn't even show up? I thought I remembered hearing that somewhere.

Anyways the guy has had his blood changed who knows how many times as well as gobs of money to help him fight.

[number335]

I believe I saw a show about him where he sleeps with his money. They did some tests on his money and determined that it was keeping him alive. They were also able to save 2 other little boys who were HIV positive.

[GME92]

Listen to Roses - Kanye West.

[Oregano123]

someone please save Ron Mexico too

[yu]

He's known as a long term non progressor. People's bodies react differently to the virus just like any other disease. There are people infected with HIV that will never have to take a single medication and will never develop AIDS. This is very rare though of course. One thing that benefits Magic is that he has tons of money so he can afford the treatments which can cost thousands of dollars for just one drug. Someone taking medication would have to take a cocktail of drugs so treatment is not cheap at all. One drug to help treat HIV would have so many side effects that two or three other drugs are needed.

Wasn't there talk of him being tested and HIV doesn't even show up? I thought I remembered hearing that somewhere.

I haven't heard about this, but it wouldn't surprise me. Treatment is used to keep the viral load down which is the number of RNA copies of the virus in the blood. Effective treatment can decrease the viral load to where it is undetectable which can give you a false negative test where it shows that HIV is not present when in fact it is. This also happens at the early stages of acquiring HIV where your viral load count is low and HIV is latent that when you get tested, it shows that you are HIV-negative. That is why they suggest that you come back to get tested in a couple months.

We need to educate ourselves more about this pandemic because it is still killing millions of people a year. There won't be a cure for HIV/AIDS for many many years because of the rate of which it mutates, but there are ways of prevention.

[Kev]

Originally Posted by YuBimmer

He's known as a long term non progressor. People's bodies react differently to the virus just like any other disease. There are people infected with HIV that will never have to take a single medication and will never develop AIDS. This is very rare though of course. One thing that benefits Magic is that he has tons of money so he can afford the treatments which can cost thousands of dollars for just one drug. Someone taking medication would have to take a cocktail of drugs so treatment is not cheap at all. One drug to help treat HIV would have so many side effects that two or three other drugs are needed.


I haven't heard about this, but it wouldn't surprise me. Treatment is used to keep the viral load down which is the number of RNA copies of the virus in the blood. Effective treatment can decrease the viral load to where it is undetectable which can give you a false negative test where it shows that HIV is not present when in fact it is. This also happens at the early stages of acquiring HIV where your viral load count is low and HIV is latent that when you get tested, it shows that you are HIV-negative. That is why they suggest that you come back to get tested in a couple months.

We need to educate ourselves more about this pandemic because it is still killing millions of people a year. There won't be a cure for HIV/AIDS for many many years because of the rate of which it mutates, but there are ways of prevention.

There's no known documentations that Magic is a non-progressor, or a known mutation on CXCR5 or CCR4. He just has the money to burn so he can afford the latest treatment in HIV. There's no doubt in my mind that if he were to go off of HAART, his viral loud will bounce back up and result in full blown AIDS.

Also, for the crowd, having a viral load of undetectable =/= cure of HIV or AIDS. It just means that the concentration of the virus in the serum sample is low enough that the most sensitive available to us cannot detect the presence of the virus (I believe right now it is <50 copies/ml). Consider that you have about 5L = 5000ml of blood in your body, that is still 250,000 copies of the virus in the body. If you go off the meds, it will bounce right back up.

[nusevad]

From Southpark we already know that Magic Johnson already found the cure for AIDS, its money, he directly injects it.

[Expired]

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-P...&RS=PN/5676977

-Nathan

[E92-Lighting]

i was thinking exactly the same

Originally Posted by rdsport323

As much as I loved watching Magic Johnson play for the Lakers back in the 1980s, my question is... How the hell is he still alive?

He was diagnosed with HIV way back when which resulted in him having to retire from the game. So, I assumed, with the very little knowledge of AIDS we all had back then that most people usually don't survive longer than 10 years. They said that AIDS is extremely deadly and there is no cure...

So how come he still looks healthy and isn't all skin and bones like Tom Hanks' character was in Philadelphia? I'm guessing that only he can afford the expensive treatments and medication that would slow down the effects of HIV... ? If that were true, then that would suck for all those who aren't fortunate enough to afford such treatment.

any thoughts or guesses?

[UncleWede]

HIV+ and AIDS are two different conditions. HIV+ is just that, you have the virus in your system. AIDS is after the virus has replicated so many times and gone on to destroy your immune system, so you catch a lot of other opportunistic infections. I doubt you will find any death certificates that list AIDS/HIV as the cause of death. It's those other opportunistic pathogens that actually kill you.

[SunnyBoo]

Difference between life and death = lots of money...........simple.........If you are poor, you could simply die from the flu, that is all there is to it.................Life is never fair..............

[ADHD]

He flew overseas for a couple months to some crazy doctor and paid him millions of dollars and he came back with absolutly no disease!! he has been tested and does not have Hiv anymore!! So rumor has it!!!!

[rdsport323]

Originally Posted by SunnyBoo

Difference between life and death = lots of money...........simple.........If you are poor, you could simply die from the flu, that is all there is to it.................Life is never fair..............

I guess thats darwinism at its best...

[PBmadness]

They don't call him Magic for nothing.

[SpecC]

Originally Posted by FifthStreetz

From Southpark we already know that Magic Johnson already found the cure for AIDS, its money, he directly injects it.

lol that's what i was going to post