Peace Corps Boots HIV-Positive Volunteer

"The Peace Corps policy is to consider every applicant and volunteer individually," she said. "We do not automatically disqualify because of HIV."

Informed about the Corps' statement, Shore said, "That being said, here is what they did: medically separating him because he was HIV positive."

According to a notification form Johnson received from the Peace Corps, the reason provided for his medical separation was "HIV - lab work positive."

In addition, the Corps listed several other reasons: the resolution of his condition would last longer than the maxium allowable 45 days, the Corps is unable to provide adequate follow-up for his condition overseas, his medical condition has a high risk of being aggravated by or recurring during his service and he would be medically unable to perform his assignment.

Former volunteers were surprised at the decision, including Michael McColly, the HIV-positive author of "The After-Death Room," a memoir on the work of AIDS activists around the world. McColly was not HIV positive when he served in the Corps.

"I'm appalled. The Peace Corps has been zeroing in on HIV prevention everywhere in the world, but to think that they would "kick out" someone for contracting the virus is the height of hypocrisy," he wrote in an e-mail.

Hugh Pickens, the publisher and editor of Peace Corps Online, a Web site for former volunteers, e-mailed ABCNews.com that the agency would normally find a country willing to accept a volunteer who is HIV positive unless it was contracted as a result of irresponsible behavior.

Johnson maintains that he was not irresponsible and that he remains completely healthy.

"In the most recent results, my viral load dropped by about a half and I have no symptoms. I have no plans to go on medication and right now I'm just trying to get my life back together."