Positive and still going strong

Phill Wilson is living proof that one can live with HIV/AIDS for a long time.

Wilson, who hails from the United States, has met his disease head on although he has been infected and living with the disease for the past 26 years.

Addressing a room full of students at the Durban University of Technology on Thursday, Wilson said young people needed to get tested so that they knew their status, and they needed to be educated so they knew their "enemy".

Speaking about life, Wilson encouraged all students present to talk about HIV/AIDS.

"The only way to defeat this is to talk about it. We need to take action - if you know better, then you do better," he said.

"No person alone can stop the epidemic. It's imperative all of us do something to help. We all have a role to play and we have to play it."

Wilson said he had had the virus for so long that he couldn't remember what it was like not to have HIV.

"I should have been dead years ago, but I'm still here. So is HIV/AIDS and so are you," he said.

He said it took two people to transmit the virus and only one to stop it. "If you're not infected make sure it stays that way; and if you are infected, make sure you do not pass the disease on."