BioQuakes

AP Biology class blog for discussing current research in Biology

Can we fight off AIDS?

AIDS is a tragic epidemic world wide. More than 34 million people are affected by AIDS and in 2011 alone, 1.7 million people died from AIDS. The people affected by AIDS are largely from regions in Africa and Asia, but more than one million people in the US are living with AIDS.

Obviously such a prevalent disease attracts scientists looking to help find a cure from all over the world. There have been significant advances in medications that can prevent symptoms and prolong life, but there is yet to be a cure.

A new discovery in treatment for AIDS gives hope for a long term or even permanent control over the HIV. The treatment includes a vaccine with a disabled version of the virus. The heat-inactivated version of HIV “awakens immune protection in some patients”. This means certain patients didn’t have to take their medication for weeks or even months. Thought the affects of the vaccination are temporary, this method of treatment shows promise.

Even if scientists don’t come up with a more permanent treatment for HIV in the near future, the temporary suppressing of the virus results in “knocking the virus down to extremely low levels would mean many patients wouldn’t need drugs, wouldn’t show disease symptoms and wouldn’t be likely to transmit HIV to others.” This is a significant accomplishment. It could lower the amount of people infected with AIDS world wide by stopping the transmission between people and would also improve the quality of life for AIDS infected people.

 

Sources:

main article:

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/347357/description/Inactivated_virus_shows_promise_against_HIV_

extra articles:

http://www.amfar.org/about_hiv_and_aids/facts_and_stats/statistics__worldwide/

http://aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/hiv-aids-101/statistics/

photo:

Earth taken by Galileo after completing its first Earth Gravity Assist

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5 Comments

  1. henroids

    WE DID IT! The first baby ever has been cured of HIV! Recently a baby in Mississippi was diagnosed with HIV at birth, but has now been deemed cured. This is the second time that we have cured HIV, the first being in Berlin where a man had a bone marrow transplant from a donor genetically resistant to HIV. This treatment was costly and unrealistic for most people, but the antiretroviral drugs used might become recommend treatment if it works with other babies. There is still a lot of controversy over the case, but if it is true it may be the first step to curing HIV and AIDS all over the world.

    Read more about this medical discovery at: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/04/health/for-first-time-baby-cured-of-hiv-doctors-say.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

  2. hannahbanana

    Wow!! What an improvement!!! HIV and AIDs are such sad epidemics, its great to see research putting a stop to them! To think that one day HIV could be suppressed to the point of not spreading– it is so exciting! Great article!

  3. dwil

    This is a very interesting post on a very important and prevalent topic. The AIDS virus, along with HIV, has been one of medicine’s true mysteries in terms of finding a cure. While many strides have been made over the years in terms of prevention, I believe the vaccine will only continue to help combat the disease. While an AIDS vaccine seems very, very risky, I think it will help many people and can save many lives that otherwise might have been lost.

    Here is another article on the subject.
    http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/347357/description/Inactivated_virus_shows_promise_against_HIV_

  4. jk1234

    The progress made over the past years in the AIDS/HIV field has been incredible. Mothers passing along the virus to their children used to be a serious problem but now with proper medication the chances of passing it along is lower than 1%. http://www.aidsmap.com/Mother-to-baby-transmission/page/1044918/

  5. evolucious

    This article is actually very appropriate, considering we just took a test on the immune system. HIV destroys the cells needed to activate the B and T cells – the T helper cells. Read more here:

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