AIDS deaths? How?

[Tanarri]

AIDS death insurance

Insurance companies to pay claims on Aids deaths

I find this article quite confusing, considering its title. To my knowledge, only one person have been declared to have died of AIDS (controversial decision galore).

AIDS deaths. Death by AIDS related diseases.

Hmm... Exactly what is an AIDS related disease then? (One obvious one should I TB I would guess).

 

[stoke]

Egzakkery. That's what I said.

I'd like to see people proving somebody died of immune deficiency that is definately caused by the AIDS virus.

Oooh look .. a new medical position .. an aidzpracter.
Much like a chiropracter where they make guesses and hope for the best.

 

[Rikus]

Johan?

 

[toxicwaste]

Yeah... I am confused too. With only one AIDS death so far I don't think the insurance companies need to loose a lot of sleep over an influx of claims. And what exactly is an AIDS related disease? The flu ? Organ failure ? (no likely due to those toxins some people call ARV's)

 

[SuperAntMD]

Well some diseases are known as "AIDS defining illnesses". (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDS_defining_illness) i.e. you need to have deteriorated from a person with HIV and a fairly strong immune system to full blown AIDS in order to become infected. These diseases usually do not cause illness in healthy individuals but they can. TB is one example but although it is virulent enough to cause sickness in people with functioning immune systems it usually doesn't. Most healthcare workers in South Africa have inhaled TB spores countless times yet few actually become sick. Other diseases require an even weaker immune system before they can infect you thus making the correlation with AIDS even higher.

The problem with all of this is of course that anyone with immune deficiency from whatever cause can become infected with these diseases, so although it does signify the change from HIV to AIDS in hiv positive individuals without hiv confirmation it isnt indicative of AIDS (although in South Africa it usually is).

I would imagine in a patient who dies young of a disease associated with immune suppression and with a known HIV positive status in the absence of other immune problems a reasonable court would find the person had died of AIDS.

As an aside ARVs have been proven beyond all doubt to slow the progression of HIV/AIDS with some people having been on them for 15-20 years now. And while they may be toxic and have some decidedly unpleasant side effects they are definitely far better then dying in your 20s