• Question: do you think there will be a cure for aids and hiv?

    Asked by mrpeaky09 to Cat, Daz, Holly, Johnson, Pamela on 15 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Pamela Lithgow

      Pamela Lithgow answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      Hi Mrpeaky09,
      I hope that there may one day be a cure for HIV and AIDS. I think to start with we will get better at preventing people from getting it and treating people who do. HIV is a very tricky virus as the DNA which makes it can hide inside the cells for many years not causing much disease this means it is difficult to get rid of. Also when HIV progresses to AIDS the virus destroys the cells (immune cells) which are meant to be fighting it!
      But there are lots of people working on HIV and everything around it so I think that one day there will be a cure and for now treatments are improving and people with HIV are able to live relatively normal lives.
      Hope that helps
      Pam

    • Photo: Cat O'Connor

      Cat O'Connor answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      Hi Mrpeaky09,

      I agree with Pam. We’re a lot more successful at preventing disease than curing them. There has been some really great work recently on creating a HIV vaccine which shows a lot of promise so let’s keep our fingers crossed for that one! It’s a disease that we definitely need to make some progress with because while people in richer countries can afford the drugs which prolong peoples life if they are infected with HIV, a lot of people in poorer countries like Africa don’t have access to such drugs!

      Does that answer your question?

      Cat

    • Photo: Darren Braddick

      Darren Braddick answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      Hi mrpeaky09!

      Well, in theory its possible, but not likely. The virus adapts very quickly which is why immunity is unlikely. We have drugs which attack various parts of how the virus lives and moves, but nothing that can cure it totally yet. We’d probably need something which massively stimulates an immune response.. But that’s hard, because HIV causes AIDS, and a major point of that is the loss/destruction of an immune system… The key to fighting aids would be to restore or save the immune system.

      There are cocktails of drugs which can really help sufferers, but they tend to only be available for rich or well-off people. Too many people don’t have access to these drugs, which is a terrible thing and needs to change!!

      I hope that helps

      Daz

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