Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date. My son who is 38 years old and is in jail in a Fl. prison. He is due to be released in about 4 months. He has HIV and HEP C. Just recently he has been on community service, this is supposed to be a privilege and he has been assigned to mow and/or weed out in the heat for about 9 hours a day. After only two days he was covered with hives or something similar, got a upper respiratory infection and a breathing problem, he was put on an antibiotic and cream for the breakout and given one week to recover. When he went back out again, in two days the same thing happened and he was back to medical. They are telling me it has nothing to do with his HIV or HEP C, but he is easily fatigued and cannot sleep. I feel that he is not physically able to do this and that his HIV and HEP C are a contributing factor and that a constant run of an upper res. infection, a breathing problem, and breaking out is going to lower his resistance to his HIV.
He is currently not on any medication for his HIV.
Please let me know if you feel this could be a potential problem for him, as I am very worried. He was fine and now he sounds awful when he calls me.
Please let me hear from you. THANK YOU
Lisa Capaldini, M.D.
Internal Medicine
It makes sense you are concerned about your son's health, and, I think he'll be fine.
The only connection between his outdoor problems and his HIV/Hep C I can think of is that people with HIV are prone to have strong allergic reactions to bug bites. This is due to the immune system being very active as it also is helping to control HIV. The allergic reactions themselves are not dangerous, but ARE very bothersome (itching, redness). The respiratory problems you describe sound like your son may have some allergy-based respiratory problem, either nasal allergies (allergic rhinitis) or lung allergies (asthma). These are NOT connected to his HIV/Hep C but can be treated with standard approaches.
As an HIV specialist, my biggest concern for your son would be to make sure he has a source of medical follow-up when he is released from prison, and that the prison medical team has his records ready to go with him when he leaves.
Best wishes...
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