Zackie's in good health

2004-10-20 10:23

Johannes de Villiers

Cape Town - During the past year, a slight cold was the only health problem Aids activist Zackie Achmat experienced.

Not bad for someone who was sick at home for 40 days last year because of a chest infection, who had to use antibiotics throughout the year, had a chronic sinus infection and battled with lung and fungal infections, Achmat said from his home in Muizenberg this week.

Achmat, chairperson of the Treatment Action Campaign, started anti-retroviral treatment 13 months ago and recently received his third progress report from his doctors. He said it showed that HIV-positive people could lead a normal life with the correct treatment.

He earlier refused to take anti-retroviral medicines before government accepted a plan to make these medicines available in the public health sector.

Achmat said his CD4-count dropped in the last six months of 2003 to 203. The CD4-count is an indication of the number of white blood cells in your blood, which protects you against infections and which is destroyed by HIV.

Doctors recommend that people start anti-retroviral treatment when their CD4 count drops between 200 and 350, while government provides these medicines to people with a count under 200.

"Since I started using anti-retrovirals, my CD4 count rose to 280 and eventually to 320," Achmat said.

"I did not have one big bacterial, fungal or viral infection this year."

- Die Burger