Optimism for HIV patients report
has it that a team of medical scientist have developed a ‘functional cure’ for
the HIV virus. The scientific feat could be a major landmark achievement for
millions of people living with the virus.
The medical breakthrough is being
applauded as a ‘vital piece towards a functional cure’ by the National Aids
Trust.
Though the scientific is still in
its early stage, report has it that a total of five (5) infected people with
the virus are presently tested free of any detectable virus. Also one of the
five persons has been living without any medication for over seven months
running.
The research was started three
years ago by a Spanish scientist name Beatriz Mothe of IrsiCaixa AIDS Research
Institute.
Mothe along with other colleagues
of hers lately gave 24 diagnosed people two Oxford University developed
vaccines, followed by antiretroviral drugs.
At present, millions of people
the world over, take the drugs to put the virus under suppression and prevent
it from spreading, but such measure, and is not good enough, as it destroys the
immune system if untreated.
One sad news about HIV is that
the moment continuous treatment is stopped momentarily, the virus can replicate
very fast, even if an undetectable viral load is achieved.
According to New Scientist, this
year following Mothe’s trial, 15 of the participants were given a booster dose
of one of the vaccines, then another three doses of romidepsin,
Romidepsin is a cancer drug that
has shown the potential to ‘flush out’ HIV from hiding.
Five of the total 15 who stopped
taking antiretroviral medication saw no return of HIV.
As a follow up to the experiment,
Mothe and members of her team are presently examining the reason why the other
10 participants failed to respond to the therapy.
The National Aids Trust said:
‘This research shows that a therapeutic vaccine has the potential to keep the
virus under control in people already known to be living with HIV.
‘The study was very small and
only five out of 13 participants experienced the positive impact, all for less
than a year so far.
‘To be confident that they have
been functionally cured of HIV, much longer follow-up is needed.
‘We all want to reach a point
where people living with HIV can be well without the need for daily medication,
and this vaccine approach is one of a range of possible interventions which
scientists are currently trialling.
‘But all are in early development
and much more research is needed to achieve the functional cure.’
Unsurprisingly there is a heavy
dose of scepticism. Dr Daniel Douek, of the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases in America admitted ‘results were encouraging.’
But said: ‘It is difficult to
gauge what the effect of the procedure actually was because of the uncontrolled
nature of the study and the fact that the people who remain off [ARVs] are,
nevertheless, viremic.’
Previously a Mississippi baby was
said to be ‘cured’ of HIV only for the virus to reappear when she was a
four-year-old.
Steven Deeks, an HIV/AIDS clinician
and researcher at the University of California, said he was ‘optimistic’ and
said it was ‘hard to argue that the vaccine strategy did not do something.’
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