According to HIV Scotland, Human Immunodeficiency Virus HIV is,
…is a virus that affects the body’s immune system. Over time, and without effective treatment, it weakens the immune system leaving the person who has HIV open to other infections. HIV used to be a considered a terminal illness but advances in treatments mean it is possible to live a long and healthy life with HIV.
There is no cure for HIV and if it is left untreated HIV is fatal.
People with bleeding disorders, such as Haemophilia, were amongst the first people in the developed world to be identified as having the immune system disorders which later went on to be called Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). In the early 1980s it was understood that the infection which was causing AIDS could be transmitted by blood and that many people with bleeding disorders had been exposed through their NHS treatment.
In Scotland we believe that 71 people were directly infected when they were treated on the NHS with both commercial blood products from American and products produced in Scotland. Less than 20 of those people are still alive today.
Heat treatment of clotting factor products, improved donor selection, and the use of recombinant clotting factor products means that current treatments do not transmit HIV.
Other HIV Organisations in Scotland