Posted on August 30, 2016
Source: Scientific American
"Where Zuma Mabuza lives, in KwaZulu–Natal, getting HIV—the human immunodeficiency virus—can feel inevitable. 'If people in the community talk about HIV, the conversation is usually about which treatment options are best,' says Mabuza, a 28-year-old woman who sells used clothes to provide for her young daughter. Mabuza is not her real name; we have changed it to protect her identity because she is part of a large medical test of anti-HIV drugs. InKwaZulu–Natal, which is in the eastern part of South Africa, almost four in 10 people test positive for the virus. Although AIDS deaths have plummeted because of antiretroviral treatments, the new infection rate has not. Mabuza’s boyfriend is HIV-negative, but the stakes are high when the disease is so common. If he had an affair with someone who carries the virus, Mabuza could get infected through trusted, unprotected sex or a broken condom. If she started a new relationship, her partner could bring her disease. If she was sexually assaulted, her assailant could be HIV-positive."
