Yolanda Hadid thinks her battle with Lyme Disease is similar to HIV.
Yolanda Hadid
The 52-year-old reality TV star was diagnosed with the condition - a bacterial infection spread to humans by infected ticks - four years ago, along with her two children Bella and Anwar Hadid, and believes people should be "pulling together" to find a cure, like they are for the lentivirus, which attacks the immune system.
Speaking at an event in Sydney, according to News.com.au, she said: "We all pull together so beautifully for HIV. Lyme is three times more prevalent right now, it's a world-wide epidemic, the first case was diagnosed in 1972... yet we haven't done anything about it."
However, Dr Brad McKay doesn't agree with Yolanda's statement.
He said: "If HIV isn't treated, people die. If Lyme Disease isn't treated, then people can feel unwell for a very long time."
Yolanda - who is also the mother of Gigi Hadid - is planning to release 'Believe Me: My Battle With the Invisible Disability of Lyme Disease', which details her life since her diagnosis, in February.
Her publishers St. Martin's Press said in a statement: "While doctors continued to dismiss her pain and friends debated about her health diagnosis, Yolanda realised her mission and higher purpose of her journey is to use her newfound platform to educate, and bring awareness to the stigma surrounding chronic Lyme in order to bring hope to other sufferers who have been misdiagnosed and battling the invisible disability of chronic disease in general."
The 'Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' star previously claimed her diagnosis changed the "dynamic" of her relationship with husband David Foster, whom she split from in December last year.
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