HIV/AIDS cure getting little publicity

[keep_it_real]

“This patient has been off all his HIV drugs for two years now,” Gupta said. “He continues to show no detectable signs of HIV in all the known places HIV is detected — no signs of HIV in his blood, bone marrow, lymph nodes, intestines or brain.” Also, the patient’s T-cell count remains normal.

Thus, according to Gupta, within the limits of scientists’ ability to detect HIV, it appears this patient’s HIV has been “eradicated.”

http://www.baldwincountynow.com/articles/2009/05/28/local_news/doc4a1d63cb68531598814432.txt

[itsrobert]

1. Majic Johnson already found the cure

Apparently it involves eating a ton of Fast Foods.

[KansasVoter]

6. Wow, what a mean, unfunny thing to say!

[Deja Q]

18. I think the ulterior point is clear:

People don't believe what the article says. Why would some two-bit rag, in the South and we all know the stereotypes they're saddled with, do an article on something nobody else - anywhere in the country - wouldn't?

Again, my B.S.-ometer is acting up. I don't believe it.

[Deja Q]

17. No, it's throwing lots of money at it! Like they did on South Park, the show that oozes reality!

[nemo137]

2. I think people are, perhaps, waiting for more evidence.

[keep_it_real]

5. 2 years with no detectable HIV and no drugs seems promising

[laughingliberal]

11. If this works, it's really going to piss off Big Pharma and the insurance cartels

Germany, on the other hand, does not have to worry so much about them.

[silverweb]

3. I do a fair number of HIV/AIDS transcriptions.

I had not yet heard of this, but will now be paying attention and watching for any reference.

[imdjh]

4. I remember hearing about CCR-5 Delta-32 back in 1984

Except I don't think they had isolated it. At the time, the were describing a group of men (including me) who appeared to be immune and speculating that it had something to do with our being of greatly pure western european stock, meaning that all of our ancestors had survived the bubonic plague. At the time, I think they thought they had isolated it to northern England.

I always assumed that they dropped the idea because people might put the notion of immunity to a test. At the time, I don't think anyone was talking about it as a cure for anyone else, simply an anomaly.

[keep_it_real]

7. The article gives some more details about what you are saying.

[laughingliberal]

9. It was found in 1996. It has been traced back now to a group of people

who survived the plague in Europe. Researchers are working on how far back it goes and it is assumed to be a mutation which developed in response to diseases long ago which has been passed on in these populations. What we know is it is most prevalent in those of western European descent and is often called the western European mutation. Those who have 2 parents with the mutation are immune to becoming infected with HIV. Those carrying the mutation from one parent will convert to HIV+ status but will either never become sick or will have a much slower, less severe case of the disease.

[laughingliberal]

8. Could be the answer and wouldn't that be something if it was a procedure long used to treat other

diseases? I also note we have known of the CCR-5 DELTA-32 mutation since 1996. Perhaps stem cells from patients with the mutation could be the starting point for a vaccine.

I sometimes think medical researchers develop blinders. I remember when AIDS was relatively new and so many patients were dying of pneumocystis carinii. I was a nurse at a children's cancer hospital in those days and we had learned, years before, we could prevent pneumocystis carinii in immunocompromised patients by giving Bactrim prophylactically. I kept wondering why they weren't doing this with AIDS patients. A few years later most were on it but not in the beginning. It's as if they can't generalize information from one situation to another. I keep wondering why, with each new disease, we find it necessary to reinvent the wheel.

edited to correct grammar

[valerief]

10. Businesses must get rich off diseases. nt

[laughingliberal]

12. Ah, you beat me to it. Just posted my reply at #11 before I saw this nt

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

13. Obviously this is a conspiracy by big pharma to keep making money of their drug cocktails

Except for the fact that this chemotherapy/transplant route is far more expensive, and ends up killing 30% of the patients.

http://scienceblogs.com/erv/2008/11/bonemarrow_transplants_as_a_cu.php

[laughingliberal]

15. Hmmm, I don't recall losing 30% of my BMT patients when I ran a BMT unit

Not everyone is a candidate for BMT and those maintaining on the current medications should keep doing that. But there are still those who do not tolerate current therapies and they die of AIDS. BMT is not generally 1st line for most cancers, either.

More expensive would need to be measured against the cost of years of maintenance on AZT/3TC/Crixovan or whatever the current cocktail is. People are on these drugs for life.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

16. I don't think this therapy is typical BMT.

:shrug:

And I'm pretty sure the lifetime cost of anti-viral therapy was taken into consideration.

[laughingliberal]

19. Huh? This patient had BMT 2nd to developing leukemia. I don't think antivirals figured into it

at all. It was a surprise that his AIDS did not return after the procedure. Without further study we won't know how much using the donor with the western European mutation figured into the cure but it seems it should be looked at closely.

It amazes me how many of our solutions in medicine come in the form of an unexpected side effect of treating something else.

[TacoD]

14. That's because everyone knows that President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia has already cured AIDS (nt)

[HughMoran]

20. Wow, I hope this is a cure

I guess we'll find out in time...