Hiv Cure Myths Debunked
9 HIV Cure Myths Debunked
A few months ago, a man living with HIV reached out to the 2BeatHIV project to learn more about HIV and HIV cure research. The 2BeatHIV project is a research project at UNC Chapel Hill that uses crowdsourcing to identify new ideas from community members, organizations, and businesses about ways to engage the public about HIV cure research. He told us that he was scared to get on medication because of all of the myths he heard about what the medicine could do to him. Specifically, some people told him that a bee sting could cure HIV. Unfortunately for this young man and others like him, myths about HIV cure do more damage that the actual disease.
Myths about HIV cure are fairly common around the world, including the United States. Indeed, there is a belief among some African Americans living with HIV that the government is purposefully withholding an HIV vaccine or cure from the public. Some PLWH also believe that dietary supplements and alternative medicine will cure HIV. Given the pervasive nature of HIV cure myths, it is important to know the facts about the current state of HIV cure research and try to address some of the most common myths.
Here are the 9 most common questions and myths we have encountered through our work and in US popular culture.
UNC Science Short: Can kick and kill cure HIV?
Check this article to learn more:HIV-Positive and Undetectable: What Does It Really Mean?
Magic Johnson: 20 Years Of Living With Hiv
Earvin “Magic” Johnson isn’t the reflective type. He tends not to dwell on the past or even second-guess the decision he made 10 minutes ago. So when asked if he often thinks about that chilly November morning in 1991 when he stood onstage at the Great Western Forum in Los Angeles and announced to the world that he’d contracted HIV, the former point guard flashes his signature smile and shakes his head: no. “I don’t look back that much at all, and I don’t spend a lot of time on regrets,” says Johnson. “I do regret putting my family and my wife, Cookie, through that entire experience and having to deal with certain things. But that’s really the only regret I have.”
Instead, the basketball legend turned business executive keeps his mind focused on one, profound thought: living. To the fame he earned as a Los Angeles Laker has been added the triumph of the survivor who beat the odds, and it may be the greater legacy of the two.
Up at 4 a.m. each workday, Johnson jogs five miles to his office in Beverly Hills, where he oversees Magic Johnson Enterprises, which operates movie theaters, Starbucks stores, and other businesses in long-neglected urban neighborhoods. Meanwhile, he’s actively involved in his namesake foundation’s efforts around HIV/AIDS and education, and works closely with the Obama administration on community-development issues. And when he finally gets home from the office after a brisk walk, he takes more business calls until 9 p.m.
Conservatives Are Comparing Unvaccinated Kyrie Irving To Magic Johnson And Hiv Critics Say Thats Rooted In Myth
Hours after all-star Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving opened up about his decision to remain unvaccinated and miss games and practices until he fulfilled New York Citys coronavirus vaccine mandate, he found support from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Greene , who has promoted coronavirus misinformation and was after she falsely said that vaccines are failing, focused on whats become an anti-mandate talking point for conservatives in the culture war that is Irvings vaccination status ahead of the NBA season. To do so, Greene referred to a different public health crisis involving another dazzling point guard from decades earlier.
The fascist NBA wont let Kyrie Irving play for refusing a vaccine, Greene tweeted Thursday. But yet they still let Magic Johnson play with HIV.
The comparison involving Johnson, who shocked the world in November 1991 when he announced that he had contracted HIV, has picked up steam among conservative politicians and pundits in recent days as the story surrounding Irving has garnered national attention.
Lavern Spencer, a Republican congressional candidate in Florida, tweeted that Johnson had FULL-BLOWN HIV when he was allowed to play.
Clay Travis, founder of the conservative sports site OutKick, echoed the sentiment. This is all madness, he tweeted.
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Nba History: Magic Johnson Retires From Basketball In 1991
NBA.com Staff
Magic Johnson shocked the NBA world with the announcement on Nov. 7, 1991, that he had tested positive for the HIV virus and was retiring from the NBA.
At the time of his retirement, Johnson was the NBAs all-time leader in assists with 9,981, a three-time winner of the NBA MVP and Finals MVP, and a 11-time NBA All-Star. During the 1990-91 season with the Lakers, Johnson averaged 19.4 points, 12.5 assists and 7.0 rebounds per game.
Johnson triumphantly returned to the league at NBA All-Star 1992, where he scored 25 points with nine assists to win All-Star Game MVP.
Two years later, after becoming a prominent spokesman for HIV/AIDS awareness, Johnson re-joined the Lakers as interim coach near the end of the 1993-94 season. The Lakers, who sat at 28-38 when Johnson joined, went 5-1 during Johnsons first six games, but went on to lose five straight before Johnson announced his plans to not return as coach next season.
After an offseason of training, Johnson returned to the Lakers as a player on Jan. 29, 1996. Johnson came off the bench during his first game back and posted 19 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds in the Lakers win over the Golden State Warriors. Johnson averaged 14.6 points, 6.9 assists and 5.7 rebounds over 32 games. The Lakers finished the season with a record of 53-29 and were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.
Despite a desire to return for the 1996-97 season, Johnson permanently retired during the summer of 1996.
Related
How Did Magic Johnson Get Hiv
It was a huge scandal in 1991 when Magic Johnson announced that he had tested HIV positive and announced his retirement from the NBA. But, how did he transmit the disease?
It is thought that Earvin Magic Johnson contracted HIV from living a promiscuous lifestyle in the 1980s at the height of his career with the Lakers. It is unclear which of his many partners gave Johnson the disease. At the time, AIDS was known as the gay disease because of the toll it took on the gay community. Many people thought Johnson was gay because he contracted the disease.
You can read more below about Magic Johnsons contraction of HIV, its effect on his career, and how he deals with it today.
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Magic Johnson Turns 60 With An Epic Vacation And His Own Top
Basketball legend Earvin Magic Johnson turned 60 on Wednesday, possibly a day he thought he would never see when he learned that he had human immunodeficiency virus at the age of 32.
On November 7, 1991, Johnson held a news conference to announce that he was retiring from the NBA and that he was HIV-positive. At the time, a lot about HIV was still unknown to most of the world. Blood tests to detect the virus had been developed only six years earlier, and researchers still did not know where it originated.
I just want to make clear, first of all, that I do not have the AIDS disease, Johnson said. My wife is fine. Shes negative, so theres no problem with her.
I plan on going on, living for a long time.
I will now become a spokesman for the HIV virus, because I want young people to realize that they can practice safe sex. Sometimes youre a little naive about it, and you think it can never happen to you. You only thought it could happen to other people and so on and on. It has happened, but Im going to deal with it. And my life will go on.
Does Magic Johnsons Wife Have Hiv
October 14, 2021, 7:48 am18.3k Views
He stated that his wife Cookie and their unborn child did not have HIV, and that he would dedicate his life to battle this deadly disease. Johnson initially said that he did not know how he contracted the disease, but later acknowledged that it was through having numerous sexual partners during his playing career.
Furthermore, Is Magic Johnson a billionaire?
Magic Johnson Net Worth $600 Million. Celebrity Net Worth says that Magic Johnson Enterprises is worth more than $1 billion, and hes part of the ownership group for the defending World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
Secondly, Does Magic Johnson own Starbucks?
Magic Johnson Enterprises is an American investment company owned by retired NBA Hall of Fame legend Magic Johnson. In October 2010, Johnson sold his interest in 105 Starbucks licenses back to the company.
In this regard, How much does Charles Barkley make?
His TNT salary is reportedly $6 million per year. The NBA analyst married Maureen Blumhardt in 1989, and the couple share a daughter, Christiana Barkley. They live in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Does Shaq own Starbucks?
Shaquille ONeal has never had a cup of coffeeand it caused one of his biggest business mistakes. The deal was also fruitful for him: In 2010, after a 12-year partnership with the coffee chain, Johnson sold his 50% stake back to Starbucks in a deal that reportedly netted him an estimated $70 million.
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Hiv Announcement And Olympics
After a physical before the 199192 NBA season, Johnson discovered that he had tested positive for HIV. In a press conference held on November 7, 1991, Johnson made a public announcement that he would retire immediately. He stated that his wife Cookie and their unborn child did not have HIV, and that he would dedicate his life to “battle this deadly disease”.
Johnson initially said that he did not know how he contracted the disease, but later acknowledged that it was through having numerous sexual partners during his playing career. He admitted to having “harems of women” and talked openly about his sexual activities because “he was convinced that heterosexuals needed to know that they, too, were at risk”. At the time, only a small percentage of HIV-positive American men had contracted it from heterosexual sex, and it was initially rumored that Johnson was gay or bisexual, although he denied both. Johnson later accused Isiah Thomas of spreading the rumors, a claim Thomas denied.
Johnson’s HIV announcement became a major news story in the United States, and in 2004 was named as ESPN’s seventh-most memorable moment of the previous 25 years. Many articles praised Johnson as a hero, and the then-U.S. President George H. W. Bush said, “For me, Magic is a hero, a hero for anyone who loves sports.”
Cookie Johnson: ‘i Fell To My Knees’ When Magic Revealed His Hiv Diagnosis
“We both fell on our knees, and we started crying,” she tells Robin Roberts.
Cookie and Magic Johnson on His HIV Diagnosis, Their Son Being Gay
— Magic Johnson‘s wife, Cookie Johnson, recalls the moment her NBA star husband told her the devastating news that he was HIV-positive.
“It scared me to death. I mean, I fell to my knees,” she told “Good Morning America” co-anchor Robin Roberts. “We both fell on our knees and we started crying.”
It was Nov. 7, 1991, when Los Angeles Lakers star player Earvin “Magic” Johnson publicly announced his diagnosis and sent shock waves across the nation. Back at home, the news tested the strength of their marriage.
Cookie Johnson shares the story from her perspective in her new memoir, “Believing in Magic.”
“I didn’t have time to get mad about whatever happened, you know, or start asking questions. went to ‘He is possibly going to die,'” Johnson told Roberts. “There wasn’t a lot of knowledge back in 1991.”
The couple wed on Sept. 14, 1991, just 45 days before Magic revealed his diagnosis to his wife. Johnson is adamant that she never wavered in supporting her husband.
“He said, ‘If you want to leave, you know, I don’t blame you. It’s OK. I understand.’ Then I said, ‘Are you kidding me? No. I love you. I’m gonna stay here and help you live. I’m gonna stay here and we’re gonna beat this thing. We’re gonna figure out how to beat this thing,'” she recalled.
The NBA star credits his wife for her unconditional support.
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Following Through On Treatment
If you test positive for HIV, the virus will begin to attack your immune system so youll have trouble fighting off infections and diseases. Its important to start treatment right away: The most common medicine is called antiretroviral therapy, or ART, which blocks the virus in various ways. The goal of the regimen is to reduce the viral loador amount of HIV in a sample of bloodto an undetectable level. While they bring some side effects, they are powerful in their purpose.
Early diagnosis, rapid linkage to care, and early treatment initiation are the key principles to curbing this pandemic, says Dr. Ellerin. Antiviral medications are able to suppress the virus to levels which do not allow transmission from person to person. We call this treatment as prevention or U = U, which means undetectable virus = untransmissible, Dr. Ellerin explains. We have come a long way from the days when HIV-infected patients had to take handfuls of pills that caused nasty side effects, to present day where many patients are able to take single tablets that contain multiple antivirals with minimal side effects.
Around the world in 2018, 23.3 million people with HIV were using ART, an increase of 1.6 million since 2017 and up from 8 million in 2010.3 People with HIV who take ART daily as prescribed for an undetectable viral load can live long, healthy lives and even have very little risk of sexually transmitting HIV to their sexual partners.
Rivalry With Larry Bird
Johnson and Bird were first linked as rivals after Johnson’s Michigan State squad defeated Bird’s Indiana State team in the 1979 NCAA finals. The rivalry continued in the NBA, and reached its climax when Boston and Los Angeles met in three out of four NBA Finals from 1984 to 1987. Johnson asserted that for him, the 82-game regular season was composed of 80 normal games, and two LakersCeltics games. Similarly, Bird admitted that Johnson’s daily box score was the first thing he checked in the morning.
Several journalists hypothesized that the JohnsonBird rivalry was so appealing because it represented many other contrasts, such as the clash between the Lakers and Celtics, between Hollywood flashiness and Boston/Indiana blue collar grit , and between blacks and whites. The rivalry was also significant because it drew national attention to the faltering NBA. Prior to Johnson and Bird’s arrival, the NBA had gone through a decade of declining interest and low TV ratings. With the two future Hall of Famers, the league won a whole generation of new fans, drawing both traditionalist adherents of Bird’s dirt court Indiana game and those appreciative of Johnson’s public park flair. According to sports journalist Larry Schwartz of ESPN, Johnson and Bird saved the NBA from bankruptcy.
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Knowing Your Risks Promotes Better Outcomes
Preventative medicine is always the best medicine, and knowing your risk is the first step to prevention, and the numbers show that preventive measures are paying off compared to a few decades ago. According to the latest data, HIV declined 8 percent from 2015-2019. While that is good news, there is still work to be done, and a lot of that work involves continued education among those most at risk as HIV continues to heavily impact:
- People aged 25-34 followed by 35-44
- Blacks/African Americans and Hispanic/Latinos populations
- Gay men
If you do fall in a high-risk group, knowing the symptoms of HIV are vital, and some of those symptoms include:
- Low-grade fever
How Much Of Papa Johns Does Shaquille Oneal Own
READ MORE: Step inside the Papa Johns Shaq built. Papa Johns owns about 70 percent of the joint venture. Shaq invested roughly $840,000 for the restaurants acquisitions costs of $2.8 million, according to a securities filing. As Ritchie mentioned earlier in the year, the ground-level impact is pretty clear.
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It Took A Child To Open The Eyes Of The World To Aids
In 1990, a young teenager from Indiana named Ryan White died of AIDS. At the time, AIDS was considered a disease that most impacted the gay male community as when it was first discovered, most of those suffering from this deadly disease were homosexual men. However, White changed the tone of the conversation as he, being a hemophiliac, contracted the disease through a blood transfusion and died just months after being diagnosed. Today, HIV/AIDS is no longer a death sentence, as basketball legend Earvin Magic Johnson can attest to. After having numerous relationships with women he didnt know, Johnson tested positive for HIV in 1991 and has been living with the virus since. Johnsons road to survival started with being tested, and that is something people should do at least once in their life if they dont have other risk factors. For others, getting tested regularly is encouraged if:
- You are a drug user, especially a user of injection drugs
- Have multiple sexual partners regardless of sexual orientation
- Have recently been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection
As for Whites case, following his death, more stringent protocols were put into place concerning blood and blood product donations, and today all donations are screened for diseases including HIV and Hepatitis B and C, and if any donation is suspect, its discarded.