Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is indeed the disease that no one wants to talk about. Some will even label it as “loathsome.” Yet, this virus affects more than one million people each year. It was first discovered in the 1980’s, but rumor has it that HIV has been around for a much longer time.
Nonetheless, since it was first discovered, efforts have been made to crack open this malicious case. Indeed, the researchers have been able to help the people affected by this disease live longer. Yet, we can’t help but disregard those small accomplishments and wish for a bigger solution. In other words we want to make HIV a thing of the past.
With that in mind, I was very please to see the progress that has been made regarding this disease. According to the US National Institutes of Health, HIV-positive individuals who start receiving their anti-retroviral drug treatments early in the detection of the disease have a lesser probability of transmitting it from person to person. There is a 96 percent chance that the HIV infected individual will not transmit the disease to someone else.
This is a big step in the fight against HIV. Even though researchers have not yet been able to find a cure for this disease, at least this new breakthrough will help prevent the drastic spread of AIDS.
Moreover, uninfected individuals, especially those who have a greater risk of contracting HIV because of their HIV-positive partner, could possibly be able to protect themselves from getting infected thanks to the Pre-exposure Prophylaxis. Uninfected individuals who use anti-retroviral drugs could decrease their chance of getting infected.
The best part is that this process could help heterosexual and homosexual couples, and studies were conducted on each.
Those breakthroughs have yet to be approved by the FDA, thus are not available to the general public, but I feel they will bring some significant aid in the fight against HIV.
Even though no official cure has been put in place yet for this virus, one man was actually cured from HIV. Timothy Ray Brown, a 45 year old man who was diagnosed with HIV in 1995, was completely cured of HIV after a bone marrow stem cell transplant. It is believed that this discovery has to do with a HIV immunity gene. Not many details are known about this finding, but it may very well be the next breakthrough for HIV.
In the meantime, the best way for people to stay safe is to educate one another on the issue of HIV. People should also use condoms during sexual activities, or practice abstinence.
