SINGAPORE, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- There have been significant medical progress to achieve fairly good results in the treatment of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) positive patients but the public perception has been lagging behind the progresses, a senior expert said on Thursday.
Leo Yee Sin, who heads the Department of Infectious Diseases of Singapore's Tan Tock Seng Hospital, said it was possible to contain the HIV virus and reduce them to a level that is barely detectable thanks to more and more new medicines, with some boasting of milder side effects.
"Although the HIV-positive patients would have to keep taking medicines till further breakthroughs, it is possible to reduce the level of the infection to a level that is hardly detectable in the blood system," she said in a local television program. "We are able to contain them and keep them at a certain 'corner' in the human body."
"At such levels, the HIV carriers were not very infectious, either," she added.
Tan Tock Seng Hospital is a public hospital that treats HIV/ AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) patients in Singapore.
The city state of 5 million has 4,845 confirmed HIV carriers and AIDS patients, according to official statistics. Sex remained the most common means of transmission. About 91 percent of the new cases reported last year involved male patients.
It has 221 newly confirmed cases in the first half of 2011, and the full-year number is expected to be about the same as that for 2010.
Leo said earlier that United Nations vision of zero new cases, zero discrimination and zero deaths would be a stretch.
"It's a stretch goal, but it is certainly something for us to look forward to. The minimum that we need to do is to see no more transmission from mother to child. Certainly we hope with early detection and early treatment we can also reduce the risk of HIV transmissions."
She said the main barrier is the public perception and misunderstanding about the disease.
"Psychologically we are still behind the medical progresses that have been made. What I am saying is that we have a sense of fear and, somewhat, repulsion towards those who are HIV positive. Actually their life can be not much different from other patients. Neither are their daily life very different," she said.
The key is early diagnosis in order to contain the disease, she said.
"About 50 percent to 60 percent of the AIDS patients were diagnosed only when they were already ill. This is a bit too late, " she said.
"If we want to achieve the goal of zero new infections and zero death, we would have to get them diagnosed as early as possible. Our experience shows that if they would be much less infectious if we can detect it at an early stage and contain it. When we do it early, the results would be much different," she said.
However, the fear may exist even when people's knowledge about the disease increases.
A volunteer said some of the trivial details in the daily life can a large impact on the patient when their family members and friends showed signs of fear and misunderstanding.
An HIV-positive patient seeking consultation shed tears after his family started to use public chopsticks to avoid direct contact at dinner tables -- doctors has said that the HIV virus is not transmitted through saliva.
Financial difficulty, which used to be a problem in the past, is now less of a challenge as the costs go down and the government introduced subsidy schemes for poor AIDS patients and HIV carriers.
The cost for immediate medical treatments is usually somewhere between 200 and 300 Singapore dollars (between 154 and 231 U.S. dollars), Leo said.
Dangerous behaviors continue to exist, as reflected in the detection of a new mix of HIV viruses earlier this year in Singapore resulting from a patient carrying two different types of the HIV viruses.
Minister of State Amy Khor said recently that while one of the reasons for the late diagnosis could be lack of knowledge and inaccurate perception, there are also individuals who know they have high risks for HIV but are reluctant to go for HIV testing.
This is because having an HIV test and finding out that one is positive opens the door to many issues -- a key challenge of which is coping with the stigma and discrimination which often accompany the disease.
Khor called for efforts to reduce HIV-related stigma and discrimination.
"Society must play a bigger part in breaking down the barriers to HIV testing. People with HIV have lost their jobs and the much- needed social support as a result of their diagnosis. Such occurrences should not happen," she said.
Special Report: World AIDS Day 2011
