A word from the Founder of this site:

I found out I was HIV positive in 1985, during the early years of the AIDS crisis, before there were any treatments to fight AIDS. Talk about scary. I was probably infected by the HIV virus a few years before that, and was already having symptoms of a weakened immune system. My T4 cells had fallen to around 350, and I had swollen lymph nodes. I didn't know what my viral load was – the quantity of AIDS virus in my blood – because there were no tests measuring HIV levels back then.

Fortunately, AZT was approved in 1987, and from then on, a steady flow of HIV and AIDS treatments have been researched and approved. Today there are 22 drugs for the treatment of HIV and AIDS, and more are in the research pipeline. But talk about confusing – the HIV virus is one of the most complicated to treat, and many people don't even bother trying to learn about their options. That's where this website comes in handy.

AIDS and HIV Information – We've tried to make this complicated information easy to read and understand. And the site is easy to navigate so that you can quickly find the answers to the questions you might have: What is AIDS? I think I'm infected – are there HIV symptoms, and what are my HIV testing options? What treatments are available? When do I need to start treatment? What about side effects? What other information do I need for living with HIV?

We have easy-to-read lessons covering these and other questions about HIV and AIDS, along with summaries of all the approved and experimental treatments. We also have recent news stories, community forums, blogs, and "cool tools" like a drug interactions checker and a way to graph your lab tests.

I hope you like the site, and find it useful. You'll find more info about the people that put this site together, along with contact information, on our "About Us" page.

Sincerely,

Peter Staley
Founder