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Asked by gb1 to Eleni, Hannah, Jenny, Oli, Steven on 14 Nov 2016.
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Hannah Bolt answered on 14 Nov 2016:
Hi gb1,
I’m not an expert on AIDs or HIV but here are my thoughts.
Firstly AIDs/HIV is an incredibly complex disease, which makes it hard to cure. We do have plenty of drugs to treat the disease though (known as anti-retroviral therapies) which suppress the activity of HIV infected cells but they leave dormant infected cells in the body, which can become active again if treatment stops. This means existing treatments can effectively control HIV but do not cure the disease.
I think scientists have recently confirmed that one patient has been ‘cured’ of HIV: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/british-man-hiv-aids-medical-trial-breakthrough-cured-a7341801.html This patient was given a new treatment to try and get rid of the virus from his body and tests afterwards showed that the virus had become undetectable in the patients blood. Scientists still need to confirm this in a larger group of patients, but it is very promising for future prospects of a cure for AIDs.
Hannah
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Eleni Vikeli answered on 15 Nov 2016:
Hi gb1,
I agree with Hannah and I would like to add that like all viruses, HIV that causes AIDS, gets inside individual cells in the body and highjacks their machinery to make thousands of copies of itself. That is especially hard for the body to control because the white blood cells it infects, and eventually kills, are a critical part of the immune system.
Besides that, there is hope for cure and a lot of scientists are working on it.
Eleni
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Steven Street answered on 19 Nov 2016:
Hi gb1,
Me personally? Because I don’t work on aids! Though there have been many discoveries and advances in aids treatments in recent years, such as antiretrovirals. Treatments like this have meant that the death rate has dropped quite a lot, and most people can live with the disease as long as they are diagnosed.
Scientists are still working on a complete cure!
Steve
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