HIV FREE!?
Photo Credit: https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/
Physical shape of the HIV virus.
In 2017, 36.9 million people were living with HIV/AIDS, now there might be cure.
HIV/AIDS originated in West Africa and made its way into the United States. The United States declared an HIV/AIDS epidemic in 1981. Ever since then, multiple pop culture stars, such as Magic Johnson & Eazy-E, have been affected by the disease. In the past 10 years, scientists researching a concept called stem cell transplants. A stem cell is an undifferentiated cell in your body. This means that in theory, one could take out mutated cells and replace them with stem cells, and the stem cells would multiply back to become healthy, specialized cells. Many people are on the fence about stem cell research because a small portion of the research deals with abortion, and when people hear that they tend not to give any opinion.
Magic Johnson started a charity for HIV/AIDS support and education.
“I think stem cell research is the wave of the future,” said sophomore George Vulaj.
However, recently a patient infected with HIV/AIDS went into remission due to a stem cell transplant. This is not the first time this has happened either: the first instance of HIV/AIDS remission due to stem cell transplant was with the “Berlin patient”, later identified as Timothy Ray Brown, who now lives HIV-free in Palm Springs, California. In September 2017, the “London patient” stopped taking the anti-virus medication after their transplant and has remained virus free for over a year. This is the second case of an infected patient who has remained virus free for over a year with no medication after the transplant. As stem cell research continues, more and more people will try to be cured of their HIV/AIDS: This will give doctors more patients to work with to develop a clear cure for HIV/AIDS.
“I would have never thought there could be a cure for HIV/AIDS; this is remarkable!” said sophomore, Justin Jyack.
The cure for HIV/AIDS is revolutionary, but this may have opened the floodgates for cures for the diseases humanity has just accepted as incurable over time. It is safe to say humanity just entered a revolutionary “Golden Age” of medicine.
