HIV and AIDS

Enough is enough. It has been around way too long and killed too many people. Are we any closer to a cure (besides that bone marrow thing that one guy did) or a vaccine?

• Bump.

• Probably not. However, and this is a big however, there is emerging data that suggest that people on the cocktail who are long-term non-progressors are probably not infectious to their partners anymore. No one wants to be the first to say that because no one wants to be proven wrong, but at a certain point, if people would get tested, know their statuses, and go on medication, you would probably be able to burn it out.

  The Voice of the Night

• [quote]but at a certain point, if people would get tested, know their statuses, and go on medication, you would probably be able to burn it out. That would really be a winning strategy in sub-Saharan Africa.

• I know the general public doesn't really understand how science works but creating a vaccine or a cure for the HIV virus is no trifling task but there are tons of scientists out there working on understanding it in every possible way. And as R2 alluded to it is important to remember how far we have come. It used to be HIV was a death sentence. With the ARV treatments we have now if you start on a program early then HIV doesn't even affect your life outlook much. It is just a chronic condition you need to manage but you can live a perfectly normal life.

• Americans already have a cure for AIDS, but they're saving it for a latter day.

  villagers

• And you are correct of course R3, that is why these studies are important is because the potential impact they could have on the developing world.

  R3

• [quote]That would really be a winning strategy in sub-Saharan Africa. There are a lot bigger barriers to curing AIDS in Africa than just people knowing their status. But I guess my point is, if the industrialized world wasn't still hell-bent on catching diseases that are pretty avoidable as long as you play safe, we wouldn't take resources from places where there are cultural, educational, infrastructure, and economic barriers.

  The Voice of the Night

• A company is working on a treatment which would work by knocking out one or both copies of the gene for the coreceptor used by HIV to enter the T cell. If it works, it would essentially duplicate what was done with the Berlin patient. The virus would be shut out of the cells, unable to enter without the receptor present.

• Yes, HIV is no longer the death sentence it once was. But anyone thinking the cocktails are a cake-walk is sadly mistaken. The drugs are very toxic and have a lot of side effects and will eventually stop being effective.

  The%20Truth

• What about Magic Johnson?

• A few months ago there was an announcement about MIT coming up with a drug that will wipe out all viruses. Sounds very promising.

  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/11/draco-drug-could-cure-almost-any-virus_n_924435.html

• There is no money in curing AIDs. There is only money in keeping people with the disease alive with expensive monthly treatments. Don't you people know how drug companies work yet?

• [quote]However, and this is a big however, there is emerging data that suggest that people on the cocktail who are long-term non-progressors are probably not infectious to their partners anymore. That's not true. I know people who are HIV+ on the cocktail and they falsely assume 'I'm poz so I don't need to use condoms at all and I can't get other strains of HIV' and they get reinfected with other strains of HIV and get STDs, or even Hep C that wreck havoc on their already compromised immune system.

• yeah there's a cure -wear a condom.

• Wasn't there news that someone who had a liver transplant has tested negative? But anti-rejection drugs are probably just as tedious as the cocktail.

• They are extremely close to both a vaccine and a cure believe it or not. A lot of money has been put into it over the last couple of years and they're learning a greater detail of how the virus works. I'd say five years before it's all over. I just wonder what the NEXT plague will be.

  LuciferTheLightBringer

• The problem is getting people test and then treatment. Testing is scarry, testing positive is scarier. But doing bothing is just plain stupid and wreckless,...no hiv test in the last six months ...no driver license...no school registration, no financial aid. It doesn't matter the results are...if your too stupid to get into treatment but at least you will know.

• But what will my friends think? We need to use peer pressure...because it works

• r17 is on drugs.

• You ok, R17?

• Potential good news against cancer and HIV

  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20898931

• I know someone who has been poz for 27 years.

• Terrified to get tested. Viscerally, unbelievably afraid. And as far as I know, no one has ejaculated into me in 15 years. I worry about a couple of drunken moments a few years back when someone tried to stick it in and I said no, and I'm paralyzed with fear. I sent a blood sample out for testing but can't bring myself to get the results. I bought an OraQuick and I just stare at it. I can't do it. I know rationally that there are good reasons to test. My anxiety level is true mental illness. I don't date, so I prefer obliviousness.

• Put yourself out of your misery and open the results. Would you rather die this year or get on meds and live another 10 years until they find a cure and then lead a long life?

• I know that a few of you have impeccable credentials, but the misinformation here is appalling. Here are a few facts in rebuttal to a few lies I've seen on DL lately. First, there is no such thing as someone who is HIV-positive who is ever non-infectious. There has even been HIV transmission from a dead host to a pathologist who cut himself during an autopsy. There is no such thing as a person who is genetically immune from being infected with HIV. Even if rare "carriers" do not develop AIDS, they will always be capable of infecting others. HIV mutates every time it infects a new host, but can always be traced back to the infecting host. HIV cannot be "managed" in every person who's infected. People still die from AIDS in the USA. The CDC reports that the number of deaths from "HIV complications" and from AIDS are now nearly equal. This from a friend and mentor who was a research scientist at Eli Lilly: A vaccine against HIV will be nearly impossible to develop, we are not close to it, and there will never be a "cure" for pre-existing HIV infections due several complex factors including the continuous mutation mentioned above. I haven't asked a doctor or scientist, but I'm certain that "super HIV" is already out there due to barebacking and continuing reinfections; those of you who have mentioned it and take steps to protect yourselves are wise. I don't like to make jokes about these things, but "it" won't stop until like Eddie Murphy joked, you stick your dick into the wrong person and both just explode.