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Hope For AIDS Cure by Ijeleigbo(m): 2:49pm On Mar 10, 2013 |
The recent news of the first documented Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) cure by United States doctors excited the medical world and also raised hope for finding the cure to the dreaded global pandemic, the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). According to reports, a baby girl in Mississippi who was born with HIV has been cured after early treatment with standard drug therapy. The infant in question underwent remission of HIV infection after receiving anti-retroviral therapy (ART) within 30 hours of birth. The researchers are of the view that the prompt administration of antiviral treatment possibly led to the cure by halting the information of hard-to-treat viral reservoirs’ dormant cells responsible for reigniting the infection in most HIV patients within weeks of stopping therapy. They also said that prompt antiviral therapy in newborns that begins within days of exposure might help infants clear the virus and achieve long-term remission without life-long treatment by preventing such viral hide-outs from forming in the first place. They expressed the view that this was precisely what happened in this case. Consequently, they declared that, that infant (the baby girl) is now deemed “functionally cured,” a condition that occurs when a patient achieves and maintains long-term viral remission without life-long treatment and standard clinical tests fail to detect HIV replication in the blood. However, the researchers said that more testing should be done to see if the treatment would have the same effect with other children. Also, HIV co-discoverer and Nobel Prize winner, Prof. Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, has said that a cure for AIDS now “might be possible.” We recall that this is not the first time there has been an HIV cure claim. Besides the current claim, another documented HIV cure claim is that of Timothy Brown. It was reported that in 2006, while on treatment for HIV, Brown was diagnosed with leukemia. His physician reportedly was able to treat his leukemia with a stem-cell transplant from a person who was born with a genetic mutation causing immunity to HIV infection. As a result of the transplant, Brown was able to stop HIV treatment without experiencing a return of his HIV disease. There have also been other unverified HIV/ AIDS cure claims, especially in Africa. Despite the optimism of finding cure for AIDS, medical experts stressed that much remained unclear-including whether this may have been a freak result. While we note the misgivings and doubts being expressed, we applaud the US researchers for their effort in finding a cure for HIV. It is expected that news of an HIV cure will naturally be dogged by doubts and controversies. From inception till date, AIDS is a disease that is fuelled and kept alive by controversies. Past AIDS cure claims had been riddled with many controversies even among the so-called AIDS experts. Over the years, no disease has been surrounded by much myth and superstition as AIDS. More often, the politics of AIDS itself is seemingly driven and sustained by a lack of cure for the pandemic. However, the current discovery is good news to mankind and we welcome it. Rather than criticize the effort, the American researchers should be encouraged to explore more towards finding a cure for the disease. Theirs, like some others before it, offer a glimmer of hope on getting a cure for the condition. Let the relevant medical authorities in the USA subject the research to all the necessary tests and verifications. We say this considering the fact that such a study should benefit immensely from peer review and input of other researchers working on the disease. Other researchers on the condition should also intensify effort in finding cure to the world’s most deadly pandemic that has claimed lots of lives since inception in the 1980s. Researchers in Africa should not be discouraged by condemnations and criticisms that always trail their AIDS cure claims. They should continue in their stride bearing in mind that the cure for AIDS can emanate from any part of the world. Those working on finding the cure through herbs should also be encouraged. Herbal medicinal efficacy on the condition cannot be ruled out. |
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