A legacy of tainted blood

By Steve Sternberg, USA TODAY

Like many young men, Joshua Lunior is searching for his dream girl. He knows she won't be easy to find, because Lunior, 24, comes with some challenging baggage.
He belongs to an all-but-forgotten generation of 10,000 people with hemophilia who contracted the AIDS virus, HIV, from the clotting factors they need to stop their bleeding.

What's more, he's open about it. "I could be sitting right next to you and you'd never know if I choose not to tell you," he says. "But I can't hide behind the fact that I look healthy. It's part of my life."

Nearly 25 years after AIDS was first reported in hemophiliacs, the world's focus has shifted elsewhere. Ryan White and Ricky Ray, the American teenagers with hemophilia who became famous for battling AIDS discrimination, have died. But the struggle isn't over for Lunior and others like him.

Their survival still depends on clotting factors, which are now heat-treated or genetically engineered to be virtually virus-free and cost up to $200,000 a year, plus HIV drugs that cost an additional $16,200 a year.

"Even with these great drugs, there are still people dying," says Patricia Lunior, Joshua's mother continued...