Canadian researchers complete world’s first large-scale study of its kind
HIV patients on that continent who get regular treatment can expect a near-normal lifespan, Postmedia News reports. Scientists from the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, as well as a team from the Universities of British Columbia and Ottawa, made the discovery in the world’s first large-scale study looking at HIV patients’ life expectancy in Africa, with lead researcher Dr. Edward Mills calling it “astounding news.” In Uganda, life expectancy at birth for those who don’t contract HIV is 55 years; by determining an HIV patient’s life expectancy, he found for the overall study cohort that life expectancy at age 20 was another 26 years. Those who got early treatment lived longer. In Canada, life expectancy at birth is 81; HIV patients receiving treatment at age 20 could live another 49 years.