Is There an Aids Cure?

As we know, AIDS is a disease of the immune system. The body's defense system has been attacked by a virus called HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus). This virus attacks white blood cells making the body weak against fightiing off diseases. Most people have gotten the virus by having unprotected sex with someone who has been infected. Others get it from their mother during pregnancy, at birth, or from breastfeeding. Some cases have been transmitted via blood tranfusion.

Doctors say that HIV cannot survive well outside the body, so you probably can't get it from kissing, toliet seats, or drinking behind an infected person. The disease progresses in stages: the initial stage, the chronic stage, and the late stage. Early symptoms of HIV may come in the form of the flu or mono. They include: severe, sore throat, headache, muscle and joint aches, swollen glands and skin rash. Symptoms usually last just two to three weeks. When they are in the chronic stage the virus multiplies itself. More severe symptoms occur like diarrhea, shortness of breath, mouth sores, and more. The late stage can cause the patient to get pneumonia or cancer due to a weaken immune system.

Yahoo health has an article that suggests there may be a cure for AIDS. In Berlin, doctors did a bone marrow transplant on an American with AIDS. Twenty months after the transplant, he appears to have no sign of AIDS. The man had AIDS for over ten years. This may give hope to the many doctors and patients in this country, at least those who can afford it. Gene therapy has to be extremely expensive. A Hematologist, Heuter, said that he remembered from a medical journal that some people are resistant to HIV. They have a genetic mutation inherited from both parents called Delta 32. Apparently, he tried this method on the patient. Around 1 in a thousand Europeans and Americans have this mutation. Heuter tested several donors and came up with a match. The patient underwent radiation treatment and powerful drugs to kill off his own infected bone marrow cells and to disable his immune system. This treatment has been fatal for up to 30 percent of recipients. He was taken off his current drug because they feared it might interfere with the survival of the new marrow cells.

The doctors are thrilled, yet moving with caution. Not knowing why his AIDS has disappeared, leaves many questions. It sort of leaves the patience's fate to chance. No one knows what to expect for his future. The disease could be gone forever or it could resurface in a big way. The mutation could also go wrong.

In general, people with AIDS are living longer due to the advances made in the drugs used.