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Many people have become complacent about HIV since the arrival of cheap and effective ARV treatment meant that no one had to die of Aids any longer and the disease was seen as a nuisance rather than a killer.

The discovery that the retro-virus has thrown up a strain resistant to the standard and inexpensive treatment and that this is spreading must be a wake-up call for everyone in Zimbabwe. There is no reason, for a start, why there should be any new cases of any variety of HIV since everyone now knows about the virus, how it is spread and how to avoid infection.

The mutation to a drug-resistant strain was always probable. Anti-retroviral treatment was never a cure, simply a way of controlling the infection in an individual and a first-class control at that. Patients always assumed that they would be able to lead a normal life and have a normal lifespan, although until the first people infected at birth reach their eighties this cannot be certain.

HIV is notorious for being a fast mutating virus. This is the main problem in trying to develop a vaccine, the standard defence in the medical armoury against viral infections. If there is ever an effective vaccine then the spread of the disease can be halted, with existing patients treated for life until there are simply no more people living with the virus.

So those living with HIV/AIDS have always had a responsibility to society to follow their treatment rigorously, however well they might feel, to keep the viral load minute. This would also benefit them personally by lowering the risk that one single virus they live with could mutate to a drug-resistant variety and force them into a new and more expensive treatment.

If they are living with very few examples then there is obviously a lower probability of that mutation. People living with HIV also had a responsibility to avoid infecting others, but some have obviously neglected this.

So it is now obvious that a mutated strain resistant to the standard treatment has developed and is spreading. This means not only must the medical authorities monitor those living with HIV more carefully, to ensure that they are living with the old strains, not the new one, but must also be ready to switch to newer drugs when necessary. We must all hope that these are effective.

Meanwhile, everyone, regardless of their status, needs to avoid being infected or passing on the infection. We all know what to do. It is not like the original spread of HIV where there was ignorance and disbelief.

Society made a lot of cultural changes, such as putting HIV/Aids into the Form One syllabus and ensuring condoms were readily available everywhere for free or at trivial cost with no questions asked. Mutual monogamy is the best choice, but for those who disagree then the old saying that if you cannot be good at least be careful applies, and a stock of condoms makes sense.

HIV testing is now simple, cheap and discrete, so no one has to be ignorant of their status. And knowledge ensures that those living with the retro-virus can start treatment early, with plenty of time to switch treatment if they are living with a new strain, and those who have avoided infection can stay free.