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CATHY WURZER: In Minnesota, it's thought that there are more than 5,000 people living with HIV and AIDS. And on this World AIDS day, we're joined on the phone by Andy Ansell. He's a health education coordinator with the Minnesota AIDS project, and he's been living with HIV for the past 19 years. Good morning, Andy.

ANDY ANSELL (ON PHONE): Good morning.

CATHY WURZER: Do you remember the day that you heard the news that you're HIV positive?

ANDY ANSELL (ON PHONE): I do remember the day. It was 1987, and I had gone to get tested at a Red Cross blood bank. And I could tell when I first went in that something was wrong. Because the person that was giving me my results, she appeared very serious. She appeared distraught.

And as I sat down and we began to talk, she said, your test results have come back and you've tested positive for HIV. And I don't really remember much of what she said after that. And it was about for about two weeks after that I was just in a period of being shell shocked.

CATHY WURZER: How did you become infected?

ANDY ANSELL (ON PHONE): I became infected through unprotected sex.

CATHY WURZER: How would you describe your life living these past 19 years with HIV?

ANDY ANSELL (ON PHONE): I describe it as a roller coaster, actually, with a lot of peaks and valleys. I've been really fortunate over the 19 years, that I've been living with HIV, that I haven't had a serious illness or complication due to the virus. My ups and downs have more been associated with the emotional toll that living with HIV takes and the stigma that comes along with the virus.

Certainly, when I first tested in 1987, it was a very different time. And finding out that you were HIV positive in those years was almost a certain death sentence. I can remember going in for my first doctor's appointment and sitting across the desk from the doctor and asking the question, how long am I going to live? And the doctor saying, well, you'll probably have about three good years, but I wouldn't plan much living past five years. And for a 22 year old, that was very shocking and very hard news to be with.

Then as time went by and thankfully new medications came out, I determined that I was certainly going to die someday. But I was holding my own against the virus. And then I had to deal with the issues of how to disclose your HIV status to friends and family. And that created a lot of difficult times for me over the years, I think, just because the act of disclosure for an HIV positive person can be such a challenging thing to deal with, that it certainly carries a lot of emotional baggage with it.

CATHY WURZER: Have you noticed any changes in how our society thinks about HIV and AIDS and how we talk about it?

ANDY ANSELL (ON PHONE): Well, yeah, I have noticed that. I mean, especially here in the United States, I think we're more open to talking around HIV. But I think that there's still a bit of an emotional charge for people when they're talking about HIV or particularly AIDS. That word AIDS, it seems to carry such a weight still for people.

Some of the changes that I think that I've seen, there are positive ones certainly. We've got these great treatments here and if you're lucky enough to live in a country where you have access to the treatments. Unfortunately, taking the HIV medications, it's like taking self-administered chemotherapy for the rest of your life. And I think what people don't understand or don't always realize is how toxic the medications are and how hard they are on the body. And they come with a whole myriad of side effects.

And the one thing that we don't know is 20 years from now, what is the impact going to be on our population of people living with HIV after taking all of these medications for so long? There's already evidence that some of the HIV medications can damage the liver. Certain ones can cause cholesterol levels to go off the charts. and with an onset of heart disease brought on by that.