As World AIDS Day approaches, and Charlie Sheen’s diagnosis continues to make headlines, we take a closer look at what it means to be living with HIV today...

CHARLIE Sheen’s revelation, that he’s been living with HIV after being diagnosed around four years ago, came just weeks before December 1’s World AIDS Day, the campaign aimed at uniting people around the globe in the fight against the disease, raising awareness and reducing stigma.

The actor’s decision to speak out has been a deeply personal one, but it’s also put HIV in the spotlight - and while getting people talking is undeniably a positive thing, it’s also highlighted that there’s still a lot of ignorance around the condition.

So what does it mean to be diagnosed with HIV in 2015?

l COULD I HAVE HIV AND NOT KNOW IT?

“Around 18,000 people in the UK are currently living with HIV and do not yet know it,” says Sarah Radcliffe, senior policy and campaigns manager at National AIDS Trust (NAT). “In addition to that, 40% of people who found out they had it in the last year were diagnosed late.”

Being infected with HIV does usually cause symptoms, but that doesn’t mean that everybody will think, or want, to go to their doctor and get tested.

“Research shows that the majority of people who are newly infected with HIV do experience symptoms that we call primary infection. Those are often flu-like symptoms - fever, aches and pains, headaches, sore throat, tiredness - and some people have a distinctive rash, with symptoms usually present within the first few weeks of infection,” explains Radcliffe.

“So we’d say at that point, people should go and ask for a test if they think they may have been exposed to HIV - but obviously not everyone will recognise those symptoms as possibly being HIV. From that point onwards, after the first few months, someone can live quite a while without noticing any physical impact, for years in fact.”

 I’M WORRIED I MIGHT HAVE HIV BUT I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO...

“If people are worried they might have HIV, the most important thing for them is to get tested,” says Natasha, who works for an HIV charity and has been living with the virus for 15 years. If you do have HIV, being diagnosed means you can then start treatment, and get access to any support you might need.

“Once they start treatment, HIV is very unlikely to have any serious impact in terms of long-term health,” she adds.

“Also, people can go on to have children, who will almost certainly be born without HIV.”

 WILL I BE DESTINED TO GET REALLY SICK?

No - as well as significantly reducing the risk of transmission, HIV treatments now mean it’s highly unlikely that anybody diagnosed (providing they have access to treatments) will develop serious complications due to the virus. AIDS-related illnesses in the UK are now wholly avoidable.

Without treatment, over time - often a number of years - the virus may begin to cause health problems.

However, Natasha notes: “I know a number of people who were diagnosed very late and found out they were HIV positive because they became very unwell.

“But once they start treatment, chances are, your health is going to improve dramatically. So even if you are diagnosed late, people shouldn’t despair.”