"Now I'm dying," he thought. "Now life is over."

Mohammed was 19 and had had many sex contacts. Now he had finally gathered courage and tested himself. The message was scratched: HIV.

- I thought I was irresponsible and not protected. Now I had been punished, got bad karma.

Mohammed, who is 21 years old today, had as many young people a vague picture of HIV as a deadly disease without cure. Not infrequently, people's reactions could be hard to face:

- You will die and if I lie with you I will also die.

In Sweden, there are currently 513 people with diagnosed HIV aged 15-29. 80 of them were diagnosed in 2018, or moved to Sweden with a known diagnosis. Like all HIV-positive people, the group faces many prejudices - completely unnecessary.

In recent years, treatment has become so effective that people with HIV can live a completely normal life - without being contagious. This summer, the application of the Infection Protection Act was changed. Anyone who has received a clearance from their doctor no longer needs to inform sex partners about their infection and the requirement for a condom has been removed.

- I plug and live a very ordinary life, says Mohammed. The only thing is that I have to take a tablet every day.

The browser is not supported

SVT does not support playback in your browser. We therefore recommend that you switch to another browser.

Learn more about browser support

You need JavaScript enabled in your browser to view this video.

When used to be treated for HIV or AIDS it was a lot of tablets with unpleasant side effects. Today, the side effects are few and manageable.

But HIV is still a stigma. Telling family, neighbors and workmates is not obvious, says Pernilla Albinsson, a nurse at Karolinska's infection clinic.

Few are as open as Mohammed. Most do not tell. For Mohammed, too, it is anxious to tell, not least in sexual contexts. It is always uncertain how the person will react.

- I sometimes tell, but not always. Since I don't have to, I don't.