During a Science Lesson today, our Science teacher, Mr Tan shared with us about Sexually Transmitted Diseases, including a lethal virus known as the HIV virus. It was known to be no cure for this disease. Since I was curious, I decided to do some research.
A cure for AIDS has got a step closer after scientists found that a common cancer drug can purge the disease as it lies dormant in the body. Current treatments are effective at reducing levels of the disease in the bloodstream - but a drug that can 'knock out' the disease when it lies dormant is thought to be key to a cure.Tests on eight HIV-positive men found that the drug was highly effective in 'unmasking' the hidden reservoirs in the body - which the researchers say is a vital step towards eradicating HIV from the body. This work provides compelling evidence for a new strategy to directly attack and eradicate latent HIV infection. The existence of persistent reservoirs of dormant HIV in the immune system that are not attacked by anti-AIDS drugs is believed to be a major reason why infection reemerges once patients stop taking their medication. The disruption and clearance of these reservoirs is critical to finding a cure for AIDS.
Also, many researchers believe the best hope for eradicating HIV infection lies in combining antiretroviral treatment with drugs that flush HIV from its hiding places. The idea is to force resting infected CD4 cells to become active, whereupon they will start producing new HIV particles. The activated cells should soon die or be destroyed by the immune system, and the antiretroviral medication should 'mop up' the released HIV. Chemical agents used to activate resting cells are called antilatency agents.
Early attempts to employ this technique used interleukin. This chemical messenger tells the body to create more CD4 cells and to activate resting cells. Researchers who gave interleukin-2 together with antiretroviral treatment discovered they could no longer find any infected resting CD4 cells. But interleukin-2 failed to clear all of the HIV; as soon as the patients stopped taking antiretroviral drugs the virus came back again.
A computer generated Image of the HIV Virus exiting the cellExample
In November 2008, a pair of German doctors announced that they had cured a man, Ray Timothy Brown of HIV infection by giving him a bone marrow transplant. The transplant given as a treatment for leukemia used cells from a donor with a rare genetic mutation known as Delta 32 that confers resistance to HIV infection. Twenty months after the procedure researchers reported they could find no trace of HIV in the recipient's bone marrow, blood and other organ tissues.
In a journal article published in December 2010, the doctors concluded that the patient had indeed been cured of HIV infection. Their evidence showed a successful reconstitution of CD4 T cells at both the systemic level and in the gut mucosal immune system.
However, bone marrow transplantation is too dangerous and costly for widespread use as a cure. Many patients die as a result of chemotherapy or reactions to the transplant, which is usually a last resort in treating life-threatening disease.
Ray Timothy Brown was the first man cured of AIDS
Let us watch a video on an interview with this man:
Let us watch a video on an interview with this man:
Reflections:
I feel that AIDS is a life-threatening disease and has to be cured immediately. In 2011, another 461 Singapore residents were newly reported with HIV infection. About 93% of the new cases were males and 7% were females. This brings the total number of HIV infected Singapore residents to 5,306 as of end 2011. As of 31 Dec 2011, 2,550 persons are asymptomatic carriers, 1,263 have or have had AIDS-related illnesses and 1,493 have died. I feel AIDS is a disease that has claimed the lives of many and I am certainly very happy to hear that scientist are moving one step closer to finding a cure for AIDS.This is possible only through the advancements in technologies in the modern world. whereby scientist are hard at work to find a cure for AIDS. Mankind is moving one step towards. Although Scientist have actually cured one man of the HIV virus, I feel that this is already a great milestone. However, scientists must seek other ways to end the epidemic, and I feel that all these research provides a new hope for a strategy to eradicate HIV completely from the body.
However, not all the responsibility should be put on the shoulders of the scientists. We should also play our part in combating AIDS. Sexual transmission remains the main mode of HIV transmission among Singapore residents. Of the 461 cases reported in 2011, 449 cases acquired the infection through the sexual route, with heterosexual transmission accounting for 46% of infections, homosexual transmission 42% and bisexual transmission 9%. Intravenous drug use accounted for 0.4% of infections. Therefore, in order to stop the widespread of AIDS, we can do our part by not having casual sexual intercourse with others. Currently, prostitution is legal in Singapore. Thus, a good way to stop AIDS would be to stop prostitution and make it illegal in certain countries. In addition, a heavy penalty can be imposed on prosecutors who break this law. Since sexual transmission is the main mode of HIV transmission, I feel that this method would be effective. Thus, if everyone plays a part, I feel that we would be able to combat AIDS effectively and one day, a cure would be discovered.
Sources: http://www.avert.org/cure-for-aids.htm http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2179262/Cure-AIDS-step-closer-common-cancer-drug-purge-dormant-HIV-body.html Google Images
