There is a number of scientific research around the cure of AIDS and several advances have emerged over the years, including the complete elimination of the virus in some people’s blood, apparently considered HIV-cured, and need to be monitored periodically to confirm healing.
While there are already some cases of cure, the search continues to search for the definitive elimination of the HIV virus, because the treatment that has been effective for one person may not be for another, even because the virus is able to mutate easily, making the treatment the most difficult.
Some advances in HIV cure include
For THE treatment of HIV, it is necessary to use 3 different types of medicines per day. A breakthrough in this regard was the creation of a 3-in-1 remedy, which combines the 3 drugs into a single capsule. Learn more about 3-in-1 AIDS drugs here.
However, this treatment fails to remove HIV viruses from the body, but significantly reduces viral load, leaving HIV undetectable. This is not the definitive cure for HIV, because when the virus perceives the action of the drug, it hides in areas where the drug cannot penetrate, such as the brain, ovaries and testicles. Therefore, when a person stops taking HIV medications, he or she quickly multiplies again.
Treatment with a combination of 7 different substances has had more positive results as they work together to remove the HIV virus from the body. These substances are able to eliminate viruses that exist in the body, force viruses that have been hidden in places like the brain, ovaries and testicles to recur, and force virus-infected cells to kill themselves.
Human research is underway in this direction, but the studies are not yet complete. Despite the elimination of many remaining viruses, it has not been possible to completely eliminate HIV viruses. It is believed that once possible, more research will be needed, as each person may need their own specific medication. One of the strategies studied is dendritic cells. Learn more about these cells here.
A therapeutic vaccine has been developed that helps the body recognize HIV-infected cells that should be used in combination with a drug called Vorinostat, which activates cells that are “inactive” in the body.
In a survey conducted in the UK, one patient managed to completely eliminate the HIV virus, but the other 49 participants did not get the same result and therefore more research on its performance is needed up to a treatment protocol capable of being applied worldwide. . That is why more investigations will be carried out in this direction in the coming years.
Another treatment, with stem cells, also eliminated the HIV virus, but because it involved very complex procedures, it cannot be used on a large scale because it is a complicated and very risky treatment, as approximately 1 in 5 transplanted patients die during the procedure. .
Timothy Ray Brown was the first patient to cure AIDS after undergoing a bone marrow transplant for the treatment of leukemia and after the procedure his viral load was increasingly decreasing until the latest tests confirm that he is currently HIV positive and can be said. who is the first AIDS-cured man in the world.
Timothy received stem cells from a man who had a genetic mutation that has only about 1% of northern European population: the absence of the CCR5 receptor, making it naturally resistant to the HIV virus. This led the patient to stop producing HIV-infected cells and, with treatment, to remove already infected cells.
Post-exposure prophylaxis, also known as PEP, is a type of treatment that involves the use of medications immediately after risky behavior, where the person may have been infected. Since in this immediate post-behavior period, there are still few viruses circulating in the blood, there is the possibility of “healing”. In other words, in theory, the person was infected with the HIV virus but received early treatment, which was enough to eliminate HIV altogether.
It is important that these medicines are used within the first two hours of exposure, as it is more effective. Still, it’s important to get tested for HIV 30 and 90 days after you’ve had unprotected sex.
This medicine reduces the chances of sexual infection by 100% and 70% by using shared syringes. However, its use does not exclude the need to use condoms in all intimate contacts, nor does it exclude other forms of HIV prevention.
Another possible way to cure HIV is gene therapy, which involves modifying the structure of viruses in the body to prevent it from multiplying. Nanotechnology can also be useful and corresponds to a technique in which it is possible to put all the control mechanisms against the virus in a single capsule, which must be taken by the patient for a few months, being a more effective treatment with fewer harmful effects. Effects.
AIDS is a serious disease that has not yet definitive treatment, but there are treatments that can significantly reduce the viral load and prolong the life of the HIV-positive person, thus improving a person’s quality of life.
Currently, large-scale treatment of HIV infection is done with the use of a cocktail of drugs that, although it fails to completely remove the HIV virus from the blood, does increase the life expectancy of the person. For more information about this cocktail, see: AIDS Treatment.
The definitive cure for AIDS has not yet been discovered, but it is close, it is important that patients considered cured of the disease are regularly monitored to check the immune system reaction and if there is any sign indicating the presence of the HIV virus. . .
It is thought that the elimination of the HIV virus may be linked to the correct activation of the immune system and may occur when the person’s body is able to identify the virus and all its mutations, being able to eliminate them completely, or through new technologies. that do not specifically aim to stimulate the immune system, as is the case with gene therapy and nanotechnology, which work in different ways.