What is the usual rate of "progression" of HIV into AIDS and why does it differ so much??

For instance, two men were infected, say, in the "early days" of it (in America), around 1980 or 81. One of them was diagnosed in '85, when already at "full blown AIDS" status, and was dead by 1986. The other was diagnosed before it was actually AIDS, and lived until 1995. Did one of them have a more "virulent" strain of it ? ARE there different "strains" of it? Or is it that one man was infected "more times" than the other?? Or was one man's bodily constitution simply stronger than the other's? What about cases where people have had it for 20 years now ? Like author Edmund White, or athlete "Magic" Johnson (not quite 20 yrs for Johnson, I realize, but still, a long time) ??

Hi D S
There are a couple of reasons why there are differences in the response to HIV in different individuals.

1. The body's immune constitution. Every time a person gets an Infection, the immune system creates antibodies to fight against the infection. Depending on the individual's immune response, the infection will either progress to full blown diseas or an infammatory process will take place and the body will get rid of tge infecting organism. There are a couple of reasons that can influence the immune response for example if someone is on steroids , their immune system will be inhibited and they cant respond to disease process as someone who is not. The same with chronic alcoholism and a couple of other conditions like diabetes.

2. When we look at the disease process of HIV, we know that there is fulminant explosion of the virus in the first few weeks, then the antibodies kick in and destroy a lot of the virus but not all. Then there is the latent period of an average of 8-10 years when the virus steadily multiplies and the antibodies steadily decline. For an individual whose inmmune system is severely diminished, there might not be the antibody response so the disease progresses more rapidly.

3. Positive Living. When a lot of people are diagnosed with HIV, most people say that thats the end of their lives and give up on life and become almost " Self destructive" and engage in more risky behaviour which exposes them to more different strains of the virus ( YES. there are different strains) thereby creating a cascade of different strains in the body.

4. Treatment. Some people seek medical care and bbegin taking their MEDS immediately while some want to wait untill their system can no longer manage by itself but most times this might be late to begin taking treatment while others clearly decline to take the treatment.

It all depends on how much of the virus is in your system, it's strength & how much it's affected the immune system. I have a friend who got HIV from a blood transfusion as a baby & it's still in the HIV status. It hasn't affected him at all & even though he's had chances for it to progress into full blown AIDS, it hasn't. If he's gotten sick (a cold, the flu, etc.) he gets over it pretty quickly actually......maybe a slight bit longer than most people but he still fully recovers.

Yes, there are different strains, some more virulent than others.

Yes, more-frequent re-infection does make it worse.

Yes, body constitution and general health does affect life expectancy.

It's not like you get infected, the clock starts running, and BOOM you die. Everyone's different. Almost all diseases are like that. Stephen Hawking, the famous scientist, has had Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS) for 44 years. That's longer than I've been alive! I don't think Lou Gehrig himself lasted five after being diagnosed.