How has Magic Johnson survived with HIV? When the former professional basketball player was diagnosed with human immunodeficiency virus in 1991, a lack of understanding and stigmatization surrounding the virus led to questions being raised over his future life prospects. However, thanks to advancements in antiretroviral drugs and management of the condition, the 63-year-old continues to thrive in his roles as a sports analyst, businessman and HIV activist more than 30 years later.

On Nov. 8, 1991, the day after the Los Angeles Lakers star announced he had been diagnosed with the virus, Mark Heisler of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "Many people [diagnosed] with HIV live many years with few serious effects on their health. The average period between infection with the human immunodeficiency virus and diagnosis of […] AIDS is now ten years, according to experts.”

At the time, HIV/AIDS was widely associated with death at a young age, so for many people this outcome might have seemed impossible. But today, thanks to advancements in antiretroviral drugs, the life expectancy of a young person diagnosed with HIV is not dissimilar from that of a similarly aged person without HIV, according to Healthline. It is precisely these kinds of drugs that have helped Magic Johnson manage the disease and have made HIV a chronic health condition rather than a fatal disease.

"There is nothing unique about Magic," Spencer Lieb, senior epidemiologist and HIV/AIDS research coordinator for the Florida Consortium for HIV/AIDS Research told Live Science. "There are still people alive and kicking and doing very well 20 and 30 years after infection."