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Valenti on Sheen's HIV Diagnosis: "No One is Really Immune"

Former ``Two and a Half Men'' star Charlie Sheen has HIV. 

In an interview Tuesday on NBC's ``Today,'' show the 50-year-old actor said he tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS about four years ago, but that, thanks to a rigorous drug regimen, he's healthy. 

Dr. William Valenti of Trillium Health in Rochester is known for his work to raise awareness about AIDS.

He says Sheen's revelation may open some eyes. 

"It tells us that HIV is still a sexually transmitted disease in all of the world and that no one is really immune."

Valenti says patients with a history of drug and alcohol abuse, and depression- which Sheen has previously acknowledged - face an extra challenge.

That's because they may miss doctor's appointments and medication doses.              

"And that's a problem, because the centerpiece of all of this is taking the medicine as directed, which keeps the viral load down to very low levels. What happens at that point is, people do not transmit the virus to other people. So there's an individual health issue here, as well as a public health issue."

When asked by NBC's Matt Lauer if he had transmitted the disease to others, Sheen declared, ``Impossible. Impossible,'' and insisted he had informed every sexual partner of his condition beforehand. 

Valenti said it's not uncommon for an HIV patient to live almost as long as a health person, if they take their medications as prescribed.

About 1.2 million people in the U.S., and 35 million people globally are estimated to be living with HIV.

In the U.S., the CDC estimates that nearly 13 percent of those with HIV are unaware that they are infected.

The CDC recommends that everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 have an HIV test at least once as part of routine health care, and that people seek out testing if they have risk factors that include having sex with someone whose HIV status they did not know. 

HIV is spread in the U.S. mainly through having unprotected sex or sharing injection-drug equipment with someone who has the virus.

Researchers at the University of Rochester are working to develop a viable AIDS vaccine.

Beth Adams joined WXXI as host of Morning Edition in 2012 after a more than two-decade radio career. She was the longtime host of the WHAM Morning News in Rochester. Her career also took her from radio stations in Elmira, New York, to Miami, Florida.
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