KC, as this is not my current field of expertise, I don't know, and wouldn't like to guess at an answer for you --- maybe after he returns from holiday, Netdoc could help on this. The answer probably changes as news meds are used, and as longer followup is possible. And it appears that some people seem to have an idiosyncratic / unique way of dealing with HIV, and seem to live for decades, HIV+ without becoming ill from it. They seem to lie outside of the general pattern of the rest of us, and scientists are trying to study some of them, to see if we can discover how their body manages to deal with HIV so much better than others do.