If There Were A Cure...would There Be A Group Of People That Would Stay Positive

[Deeznutts]

There are cases....of cures....however true.....IF there were a cure.....would everyone take it? Could it take away out desire to bareback with anyone poz or not and instill worry again? Who would go back to good behavior? Who would stay positive? Could we be asking ourselves, after those delicious sensual one night bareback stands  "Did I get HIV ...............AGAIN" ?!  

Edited October 19, 2014 by Deeznutts

[evilqueerpig]

At the risk of going Oliver Stone, the drug companies are making too much money keeping us on HIV drugs to even care about a cure.

[Deeznutts]

That being true....any "if" statements

[evilqueerpig]

Unless the cure was being given free or at an affordable cost to eradicate HIV, I'd stay POZ, since I'll NEVER give up barebacking.

[sluttysublad]

At the risk of going Oliver Stone, the drug companies are making too much money keeping us on HIV drugs to even care about a cure.

 

I think that, were HIV to be only a first world problem, that would be the case.  However when you look at the number of people in Africa that have HIV and the impact it is having on them, we in the first world are the outliers and not the statistical norm.  Thus drug companies are not really focused at curing us in the first world, but instead those in the third world, and that is what provides the impetus for the pharmaceutical firms to try and find a cure.

 

Personally I think there will be a cure, and there will be one fairly soon.  However at that point HIV will be just another STD and treated as such.  

 

To answer the OP, sure, some people will refrain from getting treatment, much as people refrain from getting things fixed today.  But normatively speaking, the bulk of people will just get it sorted at the clinic.  And if they continue barebacking (as I and other people would) then they would just catch it again.

What would potentially be more interesting, and more relevant with regard to the spirit of the OP, would be that if they developed a one time only cure.  

 

So if you caught it again, you'd be both literally and figuratively fucked. 

 

But even then, I can't imagine that they will get rid of HIV in Africa with a one time only pill.  The problem there is too pervasive already for that.

[Bottomhole]

I think maybe there will be a vaccination to prevent hiv, but not a cure per se. But I'm not knowledgeable on the subject enough to say that with any authority. If there was a cure I'd absolutely take it. In a heartbeat!

[Deeznutts]

The One TIme ONLY CURE.....That is the idea I was exploiting.... I myself am still on the fence.... getting the cure and staying negative would make me revert back to the butterflies in my stomach after a decent night at the bathhouses.... I sure as hell won't stop barebacking.....Another question is... could we stay positive on our own account because of our love to bareback .....or would the government force us like the X-Men Mutant Cure =)

[Bottomhole]

The One TIme ONLY CURE.....That is the idea I was exploiting.... I myself am still on the fence.... getting the cure and staying negative would make me revert back to the butterflies in my stomach after a decent night at the bathhouses.... I sure as hell won't stop barebacking.....Another question is... could we stay positive on our own account because of our love to bareback .....or would the government force us like the X-Men Mutant Cure =)

Hahaha the X-men comment made me laugh. I don't think the American government would do that. China maybe. If only being hiv positive gave me superpowers. It's funny because since my diagnosis I've had a reoccurring dream that my doctor told me that my body somehow cured itself and became immune to the illness. A nice thought, wish it came true.

[wood]

As much as some of the chasers and guys who glorify HIV on here would like to think so I really doubt anyone would chose to stay poz.  As long as the cure was relatively easy.  IE something like a course of medication, not something like invasive surgery, I really doubt anyone would stay poz.  Additionally I bet at that point governments would step in to offer the cure at little to no charge.  It costs a lot to treat HIV, and while a cure wouldn't be cheap either, it would almost surely be cheaper than lifetime treatment.

 

Look at the current drug solvaldi for Hep C.  Yeah its expensive, but people are coming around to it even with its expense because its cures the condition, and is MUCH MUCH cheaper than things like liver transplants. 

[bbzh]

I think one's age and general state of health come into play here. If you're 30, you might feel more invincible health-wise and say I'll take the meds and stay poz so I can bareback as much as I want. But I would imagine that someone older who is starting to have to deal with other age-related illnesses might take the HIV cure and slow down sexually because the one thing that hasn't been really researched is what these HIV meds are doing to one's body over the long term and how they interact with drugs for other conditions.

I've said it on other threads and I'll say it here, barebackers are so fixated on HIV and PRep and are turning a blind eye to Hepatitis C, which is running rampant in the community. And while there is a cure, it costs $60,000. But you can get Hepatitis again and again particularly if you are into group sex, fisting, rough sex. You can live many years with hep C before it kills you, but do you really want an insurance company deciding if your life is worth saving? Or saying oh we'll let the virus eat his liver alive until the cost of the drugs come down.

I've been thinking for a while here that this forum needs a thread where we list out all the diseases barebackers are at risk for and then talk about treatment options and costs. There is far too much time spent glorifying giving and taking loads and not enough on how to take care of ourselves. It's really no laughing matter.

[Guest]

There's no meaning or purpose in "suppose" or "what if." I want to live in the present, which means being happy and poz and fucking raw with no fears or regrets.

[tboyer]

It would depend how cheap and easy the cure was, because I would become HIV positive again anyway

[Guest JizzDumpWI]

There are cases....of cures....however true.....IF there were a cure.....would everyone take it? Could it take away out desire to bareback with anyone poz or not and instill worry again? Who would go back to good behavior? Who would stay positive? Could we be asking ourselves, after those delicious sensual one night bareback stands  "Did I get HIV ...............AGAIN" ?!

Where to begin....

If there were a cure we would still have PreP. So the notion that if cured on has to "put away desire to Bb with anyone Poz" doesn't follow. They are different and unrelated things. Add to that TasP and the "if this then that" discussion falls away completely. Most new conversions aren't coming from (known) Poz guys, but from neg guys newly converted.

OP, you seem to take the position that desire for Poz loads is "bad behavior". I for one disagree.

Finally, just like we get other STIs sometimes multiple times, HIV would most likely fall into the same domain.

[wood]

I've been thinking for a while here that this forum needs a thread where we list out all the diseases barebackers are at risk for and then talk about treatment options and costs. There is far too much time spent glorifying giving and taking loads and not enough on how to take care of ourselves. It's really no laughing matter.

Yeah I'm just about over and done with this forum.  Yeah its nice to openly discuss sexual stuff, but the stuff that matters hardly gets discussed.  The rest of it is (likely) internet fantasy from people that IMO probably only do 1/10th of what they say the do.  That's one of the reasons I don't discuss my personal sex life on here, I don't need to, I just do it.  It gets really old, especially when replies end up being shit like "YEAH MAN JUST GET POZZED, THE BUG IS GREAT" 

[Poz1956]

There has been exactly ONE person cured of HIV.  And I'm not even sure if they consider his case a functional cure, or sterilizing cure.

 

The most likely future scenario is a fictional cure.  The virus would be totally suppressed, and there would be no need for a daily drug regime.  But there would still be viral DNA spliced into some cell hiding somewhere in my body.  Sure I'd jump at that cure.  But sadly I'd still be considered Poz, and still face all the shitty stigma.  I've never thought about PrEP even being applicable in that situation.

 

I very much doubt we will ever get to a sterilizing cure, where all trances of the virus are totally eliminated.  If it was developed, I'd leap on it in a second, and go on PrEP to keep me free of the bug.  But I expect society would still consider me "dirty" because I had been Poz in the past.  Similar to the situation survivors of Ebola now face.  But at least I could say I was Neg, and have no qualms or guilt about it.

Would there be people who would stay Poz.  Sure!  Look at each step of the Treatment Cascade.  Those that get lost to the system now, would probably fall off each step of the "Cure Cascade."  Like the 16+% who are Poz but don't know it.  In the US you have that particularly egregious 46% drop between diagnosed and retained in care.  So that totals to 62%.

 

And just like the anti-Vax and anti-PrEP crowd, there would be science denialists, conspiracy theorists, and the "I'm not going to put that 'poison' in my body" group.

 

But I suspect that the majority of those currently retained in care would leap at the chance to get rid of our unwanted hitchhikers.  Standard provisos about access and affordability would apply.