Living with AIDS in the new era

AIDS is a serious and chronic disease. AIDS is an infectious disease. AIDS is a livable disease. The threes truths formed the foundation of the study day held at Hillel Yaffe Medical Center this week, with the participation of over 120 community physicians as well as medical, nursing and paramedical staff at the hospital.

At the study day, which was organized by the staff of the hospital's AIDS Clinic, which is managed by Dr. Valery Istomin, together with the staff of the Infectious Diseases Unit and Internal Medicine C, attendees were presented with data on AIDS, HIV patients and current treatments.

Dr. Ohad Hochman, Deputy Director of the Medical Center, who opened the study day, noted that as a general internist, he is aware of the importance of the work community physicians do with the experts from the AIDS Clinic at Hillel Yaffe to provide optimal treatment for AIDS patients, who today can live with the disease, despite the challenge arising from comorbidities.

Dr. Istomin first presented data on the number of patients and carriers in Israel, 6,800 patients that have been found and registered, although the estimated figure is closer to 9,000. She noted that despite high awareness of the disease, there is still insufficient awareness of its diagnosis and prevention among various and diverse populations.

Dr. Istomin even called on the medical staff to be aware of the symptoms of the disease, which are not always clear. Therefore, in certain cases, even if there is a very slight suspicion and even if there is no unequivocal medical history, it is good to perform a test to identify the virus.

Later, Dr.  Sharon Reisfeld, senior physician in the Infectious Diseases Unit, which was also involved in producing the study day, reviewed the treatments given for the HIV comorbidities, while noting the innovations in the field and the ability to live with AIDS as a chronic disease yet with a good quality of life. Additionally, Dr. Yuval Livnat, CEO of the Israel AIDS Task Force, discussed AIDS-related ethical and legal issues, sharing there personal story of a woman about living with HIV. 

At the end of the day, Dr. Istomin said that in honor of World AIDS Day and for the benefit of the public, on December 1 the AIDS Clinic at Hillel Yaffe will be offering free testing from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the hospital's outpatient clinics.