Finding An Hiv Cure In The Next Decade

By Author: Jeremy Miller
Total Articles: 21
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HIV has become a household name, with the majority of people knowing of the disease. Its infamy was earned by its potential to lead to fatal infections, and by its ability to resist treatment. For many people who were infected in the early days, it was a death sentence.

Modern drug treatments have changed the outlook towards HIV. Instead of the diagnosis meaning a shortened life, people with the virus may now expect to live into their sixties. But this extended life expectancy is not without great cost financially, as there is no cure. Instead the treatment must be followed for life, and often requires several expensive drugs to be taken at the same time. Treatment regimes are strict, and if not followed exactly there is a large risk that treatment may fail.

The majority of HIV sufferers do not have access to these treatments because they simply cannot afford them, and so for lack of money they die. For those with financial means, treatment becomes a lifelong burden. There is no cure for HIV, because the virus is able to hide in parts of the body that are unaffected by even the most aggressive of anti-retrovirus ...
... drugs, and this means that treatment must be continued permanently as the reservoir effectively reinfects the person.

Research efforts are ongoing into finding a cure for HIV. Unfortunately this research is pulling in many different directions, with teams of scientists and doctors around the world working independently. Though progress continues to be made, it is far slower than it needs to be, because every day that passes, another seven thousand people are infected with HIV worldwide.

A coordinated, joint effort between researchers is needed to bring about the urgent advances needed to find a cure. Finding a way to rid the body of the HIV reservoir is needed in order to affect a permanent cure for the virus. Working together as a scientific community will speed the results when compared to ongoing individual research.

This is the aim of www.hiv-reservoir.net. The website is a meeting place for professionals who are involved in the field of HIV and the viral reservoir research-doctors and scientists alike. The website provides a collaboration point that allows researchers who wish to find a cure from around the world, to come together. It is a place to share ideas and discuss the latest research.

Unlike many of the HIV support websites currently online, the site does not aim to provide support or education for patients, but instead is a tool for professionals. Though the website is the center of this research based community, there is also a biennial reference research workshop that is organized in order to allow for the exchange of ideas and research.

A cure for HIV is desperately needed, and is the only way that the millions of people around the world who are infected but cannot afford treatment can hope for a healthy life. The best way to bring about a cure is for the scientific community to work together.

Alain Lafeuillade has written many articles on hiv cure. His portal, hiv reservoirs is Dedicated to Researchers, Clinicians, Biologists.