Anthony F. Fauci director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health.
Dramatic advances in the treatment of HIV/AIDS
have saved millions of lives around the world. Today, someone in his or
her 20s who becomes infected with HIV and starts taking anti-HIV drugs
can expect to have a nearly normal life expectancy. This stunning
success is tempered by the fact that these lifesaving drugs are not
curative. Although the virus can be suppressed, it cannot be eliminated
from the body.
This has enormous economic implications,
because 35 million people live with HIV and millions more continue to be
infected each year. In addition, anti-HIV drugs have varying degrees of
toxic side effects, and it is difficult for many people to adhere to
lifelong drug therapy. This raises the question: Can HIV be cured? That
is, can a person for whom treatment has suppressed the virus to
undetectable levels discontinue drugs without the virus rebounding?
One key reason why HIV remains incurable is
that, soon after a person becomes infected, a reservoir of HIV-infected
cells forms and can hide in various locations in the body, including
lymph nodes, the gut and even the brain. Although medicines can suppress
HIV, the virus in these latent cells resurges if treatment is stopped.
Unfortunately, most adults do not learn they are infected for months or
even years, by which time the cache of HIV-infected cells has
established a strong foothold. Researchers are working to eradicate this
reservoir, or at least to limit it. One theory is that treatment soon
after infection could thwart its formation or perhaps make it
susceptible to elimination.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/anthony-fauci-a-mississippi-infants-case-opens-a-new-door-on-studying-a-cure-for-hiv/2014/06/20/a5faf5b2-f7e8-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html
