AIDS: Implications for the Performing Arts Community

K. Holly Gallivan, Robert T. Sataloff
From: Performing Arts Medicine, 3rd ed.: Chapter 16 © 2010; page: 311

Abstract: The arts community has suffered many losses due to HIV infection. Singers, dancers, and other artists must live and work in a world in which acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is increasingly common. It is essential for physicians, therapists, teachers, and others caring for performing artists to be informed about this disease. Open discussion regarding the physical and emotional impact of this debilitating disease, and of ways to prevent it, should be part of the patient education process for any performing artist.
This overview provides a basic review of HIV infection, virus transmission, and the symptoms of infection, particularly those involving the respiratory system, oral cavity, and eyes, which affect the artist's ability to perform. Treatment of HIV infection is staged according to the disease activity and CD4+ cell counts. The advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), which is a cocktail of several antiviral drugs given together, has improved survival dramatically in the past decade.

Last Updated: 5 / 2010

Back to Table of Contents