Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - September 30, 2007
Claire Keeton

But he once woke up in the middle of the night with a jolt, realising that he'd failed to diagnose HIV in a patient he'd seen earlier that week.

"He was a young, white Jewish guy from a good family who'd been travelling in Thailand. He came back with a strange rash and had been feeling very sick.

"I destroyed his medical aid trying to find out what was wrong, but he started getting better by himself. It didn't cross my mind that he had had unsafe sex.

"I suddenly realised he must be HIV- positive. I phoned him the next day, and he was," he said.

"HIV is not limited by social class, income, race or gender," said Venter, whose patients range from senior government officials to inner-city sex workers, who speak proudly of their doctor, "Francie".

Venter, the 38-year-old president of the HIV Clinicians' Society of Southern Africa and senior member of the Reproductive Health and HIV Research Unit at Wits, has now joined the Each One Reach Five HIV- testing campaign.

He urged every sexually active person to have regular HIV tests.

"Everyone who is sexually active should get an HIV test irrespective of who they are having sex with or how.

"HIV affects normal people having normal sex. I see people every week who are surprised they are HIV-positive. Somehow they think they are immune."

Venter declared: "HIV is not a disease of ignorance. HIV is a disease of denial. People think they are immune, which is why South Africa has a terrible epidemic. Even in monogamous relationships people should go for tests as they may be at risk. Infidelity happens and it's not the easiest to talk about."

Venter said he supported the sustained efforts of the Each One Reach Five campaign to expand HIV testing.

The HIV epidemic in South Africa has exploded since Venter saw his first case in 1991, two years before he graduated.

He said: "In 1990 we were interested in a report from Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital's antenatal unit that HIV was affecting 1% of their patients. We debated about HIV and the impact it would have on the country but it was all in the abstract."

A decade later, HIV had infected an estimated 24.5% of new mothers nationally.

Venter specialised as a physician, then in infectious diseases, while practising in the public sector. During that time he worked at Johannesburg Hospital with haematologist Dr David Brittain, who was using antiretrovirals to treat haemophiliacs with Aids.

Venter said: "We got this patient on a ventilator - and before then every person I'd seen that ill would have died - but with antiretrovirals he miraculously survived and eventually walked out of the hospital. It was my first taste of how amazingly well ARVs worked."

In 2000, he joined Wits University's Clinical HIV Research Unit running the Johannesburg Hospital clinic.

"We had the biggest HIV clinic in Africa then with about 500 patients on treatment," he said.

The government programme now has around 8000 people on antiretroviral treatment in the inner city.

He said that people with HIV/Aids needed to be treated as efficiently as chronic-care patients holding down jobs.

"They should be able to come in and get their medicines quickly and infrequently so that they can leave and lead normal lives."

Venter added: "We also need to make access to treatment easier. People can buy airtime or Lotto tickets anywhere. We need to make it that easy."

Venter's five volunteers are: Professor Helen Rees, executive director of the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Research Unit and women's health advocate; Winnie Moleko, overviewing the improvement of primary-care HIV services in Johannesburg's inner city; Dr Vivian Black, maternal HIV expert at Johannesburg Hospital; Dr Shanil Naidoo, HIV doctor co-ordinating healthcare teams in Hillbrow; and Sara Nam, midwife and antiretroviral adherence researcher.

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How to join the campaign:

Take an HIV test and get five other people to do the same. Make it clear that no one has to disclose their results.

Let us know why you decided to join the campaign and how you felt when you took the test. We welcome any stories about the experiences you have while participating in the campaign. Send your stories - with pictures if possible - to: reach5@sundaytimes.co.za

Send us your name and the names of your five nominees so that we can publish a list of South Africans who have taken part. We do not want to know any of the results. You can get tested at your doctor or local clinic. For a list of clinics go to www.sundaytimes.co.za/vct

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