There is no specific time for how many years you can live on medication during the onset of AIDS. AIDS patients with standardized treatment and high adherence can even have a life expectancy comparable to that of a normal person.
AIDS is an infectious disease caused by human immunodeficiency virus infection, mainly through blood, sexual contact, mother-to-child vertical transmission, etc. HIV mainly violates the human immune system, resulting in a decrease in CD4+ T lymphocytes, leading to immune function defects, causing a variety of opportunistic infections and tumors, which can be divided into the acute stage, asymptomatic (latent), morbidity.
The acute phase of AIDS usually occurs in 2~4 weeks of the initial HIV infection, manifested by fever, general malaise, etc., which lasts for 1~3 weeks and then relieves and enters into the asymptomatic phase, which lasts for a short period of a few months and up to 20 years, with an average of 6~8 years, and it is infectious, and then it enters into the AIDS phase, with the emergence of a variety of opportunistic infections and tumors.
Treatment for AIDS patients includes supportive therapy, application of antiviral drugs, such as zidovudine, tenofovir, ritonavir, etc., and anti-opportunity infections, such as cotrimoxazole, isoniazid and ganciclovir.
AIDS patients should seek timely medical treatment and follow the doctor’s instructions for standardized treatment.