"We have found an innovative way to kill the [HIV] virus."

[2322]

Abzymes may hold the key to klling HIV:

There is real hope that what’s happening in a Houston lab might lead to a cure for HIV.

“We have found an innovative way to kill the virus by finding this small region of HIV that is unchangeable,” Dr. Sudhir Paul of the University of Texas Medical School at Houston said.

Dr. Paul and Dr. Miguel Escobar aren’t talking about just suppressing HIV – they’re talking about destroying it permanently by arming the immune system with a new weapon lab tests have shown to be effective.

Ford Stuart has been HIV positive for 15 years. He’s on a powerful drug cocktail that keeps the disease in check.

“I’m on four different medications. Three of them are brand new, and it’s the first time that I’ve ever been non-detectible,” Stuart said. “I’m down to about – just for the HIV – about nine pills per day, five in the morning and four at night.”

But Stuart knows HIV mutates, and eventually it will learn how to outsmart his medications.

“The virus is truly complex and has many tricks up its sleeve,” Paul said.

But Dr. Paul thinks he’s cracked a code.

“We’ve discovered the weak spot of HIV,” he said.
Paul and his team have zeroed in on a section of a key protein in HIV’s structure that does not mutate.

“The virus needs at least one constant region, and that is the essence of calling it the Achilles heel,” Paul said.

That Achilles heel is the doctors’ way in. They take advantage of it with something called an abzyme.

It’s naturally produced by people, like lupus patients. When they applied that abzyme to the HIV virus, it permanently disarmed it.
“What we already have in our hand are the abzymes that we could be infusing into the human subjects with HIV infection, essentially to move the virus,” Paul said.

Basically, their idea could be used to control the disease for people who already have it and prevent infection for those at risk.
The theory has held up in lab and animal testing. The next step is human trials.

Meanwhile, every day in Houston, three people are diagnosed with HIV.

The doctors still need funding to launch human trials. In the world of HIV research, that’s often where things fall apart.

“Clinical trials are very expensive,” Paul said.

“That is the worry of the researcher. This is what nightmares are made of – that after 30 years of work, you find it doesn’t work,” Paul said.

But so far, it is working.

“This is the holy grail of HIV research, to develop a preventative vaccine,” Paul said.

“If we can get the viral loads down to a manageable level, that will preclude the need for these conventional drugs,” Escobar said.
Still, even if everything goes well, it’s at least five years before the research could help people with HIV.

The doctors know people like Ford Stuart are waiting.

“There are so many people struggling with the disease because it affects not only your body, but also your psyche, how you perceive yourself,” he said.

If nothing else, the research is promising for the tens of millions waiting for a cure. -Fox News

 

[psidom]

my fingers are crossed and my prayers are with Dr. Paul.
awesome news!:smile:

 

[TurkeyWithaSunburn]

Just have to find a patient that has HIV and lupus and study them too... which according to the article shouldn't be able to exist.

The ever mutating retroviruses are tricky little things.

 

[Rikter8]

It is good news. Let's pray for the folks that have the disease, and wish them well.

Now... the important part will be how they release this to the public.
I think theyre should be immediate treatments to those that have the virus, to a set date for people to get tested.
After that, Take it off the mass market, only available to unborn children still in the works during that time.
That way you don't allow for careless people to have unsafe sex because "The threat is seemingly gone"

This goes for straight people too...by the way...

 

[2322]

It is good news. Let's pray for the folks that have the disease, and wish them well.

Now... the important part will be how they release this to the public.
I think theyre should be immediate treatments to those that have the virus, to a set date for people to get tested.
After that, Take it off the mass market, only available to unborn children still in the works during that time.
That way you don't allow for careless people to have unsafe sex because "The threat is seemingly gone"

This goes for straight people too...by the way...

Is that a joke?

 

[marleyisalegend]

Is that a joke?

I was thinking the same thing. It seems terribly ignorant and almost criminal to force people to live with a disease for making a decision that MANY of us make. People are terribly judgmental towards those with HIV as if they're the only ones who make wreckless decisions.

Yeah, let's stick 'em in cages and deny them medicine cuz they trusted that their partner was being faithful. I hope Rick isn't on any medical or governmental boards.

 

[B_Think_Kink]

There is no way to treat every person so that blows that theory out of the water. The drug will probably be super expansive and people who cannot afford it will not be helped.

I hope this drug works, but I hope they keep it available to everyone.

 

[Phil Ayesho]

Sounds to me like if it does work... it gives you lupus.

Lots of things look promising in the lab.

Very few make it thru trials.

 

[marleyisalegend]

The drug will probably be super expansive and people who cannot afford it will not be helped.

Quoted for being the unfortunate, bleak, but very REAL truth. I imagine the Magic Johnsons of the world will be the ones who benefit. The nameless people on the streets, in the ghettos and backwoods, and living in poverty will be SOL.

I hope this drug works, but I hope they keep it available to everyone.

You and I both know better. If Hurricane Katrina attacked the Hollywood Hills, I doubt there'd be a delayed response, and I doubt that they'd be stuck in trailers that are an eyesore and, worse, aren't even up to health standards. I don't mean that in a racial context cuz white New Orleansians suffered as well, it's a class thing. In many cases, the health of the wealthy is valued more than the health of the poor.

 

[lucky8]

If it is a preventative drug and it works, i bet our our government will make it mandatory for children to get vaccinated at birth, just like the measles, just like smallpox

 

[marleyisalegend]

If it is a preventative drug and it works, i bet our our government will make it mandatory for children to get vaccinated at birth, just like the measles, just like smallpox

The problem will be 10 years later when the unsuspected side-effects start popping up, assuming that they'll be recognizable, assuming that the government keeps accurate record of the recipients. I'm thoroughly against the idea of the government getting involved in health issues, there are few areas where them getting involved breeds good results.

 

[Mr. Snakey]

Abzymes may hold the key to klling HIV:

This is good news indeed. They are getting closer and closer to finding a cure and i know one day they will.

 

[D_Fiona_Farvel]

HIV mutates too much, and I'd be concerned that any vaccine would only cover certain strains, and as Think Kink mentioned, be too expensive and out of reach for the masses of poor/3rd world people who desperately need it.

Idk, I am still holding onto education and behavioral changes being the key to the eradication of HIV.

Is that a joke?

Seriously.

 

[novice_btm]

There have been a couple mentions of "mutation", which entirely misses one of, if not THE main point...

“We have found an innovative way to kill the virus by finding this small region of HIV that is unchangeable,” Dr. Sudhir Paul of the University of Texas Medical School at Houston said.


Yes, viruses mutate, but if a basic core portion, which does NOT change, is located, then THAT portion can be targeted. That's what this article is claiming.

 

[Rikter8]

I was thinking the same thing. It seems terribly ignorant and almost criminal to force people to live with a disease for making a decision that MANY of us make. People are terribly judgmental towards those with HIV as if they're the only ones who make wreckless decisions.

Yeah, let's stick 'em in cages and deny them medicine cuz they trusted that their partner was being faithful. I hope Rick isn't on any medical or governmental boards.

Since when is wearing protection and having safe sex a Choice?

There are many different ways people can get HIV/aids. Blood transfusions, etc etc.
My point is, to make the punishment severe enough that people will start to realize 'IF I DO THIS, I WILL DIE".

There can be exceptions to the rule. People that are raped, or unfaithful spouces, bad blood transfusions, acts of crime, etc.
The laws are already in place, that if an infected person infects another they go to jail for manslaughter.

I PRAY for those that have the disease and struggle with it on a day to day basis. I say Try your best to stay strong until this is available to all of you.

Once it's in control, THEN regulate it more stringently.
The point is to cut down on stupid sex.

 

[2322]

Since when is wearing protection and having safe sex a Choice?

There are many different ways people can get HIV/aids. Blood transfusions, etc etc.
My point is, to make the punishment severe enough that people will start to realize 'IF I DO THIS, I WILL DIE".

There can be exceptions to the rule. People that are raped, or unfaithful spouces, bad blood transfusions, acts of crime, etc.
The laws are already in place, that if an infected person infects another they go to jail for manslaughter.

I PRAY for those that have the disease and struggle with it on a day to day basis. I say Try your best to stay strong until this is available to all of you.

Once it's in control, THEN regulate it more stringently.
The point is to cut down on stupid sex.

Who are you to determine what sex is stupid?

Just how would all this be determined? Testimony? Forensic examinations? And then what do you do when someone contracts HIV via one of the "stupid" ways? You let that person die or do you withhold just some treatments but not others? What's to prevent someone from claiming consensual sex was rape just to get treatment?

You look into the faces of HIV sufferers and tell them, "We could cure you but you were stupid so I've decided you should die."

Your proposal is appalling not just on ethical grounds but on public health grounds as well. When people think a disease won't kill them they get careless. That is what people do through all kinds of health crises. If you "eliminate" the disease from the general population then how do you make certain of this? It's impossible. You would have to do it on a world wide scale. HIV was likely brought to this country by an airline attendant who had sex while out of the country. If HIV is generally eradicated in the US then people will assume that everyone else is safe even if they aren't and then you've gone and reignited the whole epidemic.

 

[marleyisalegend]

Since when is wearing protection and having safe sex a Choice?

Since people want to have babies, and are human. Unless you suggest the idea of every single sexual act using a condom, and every couple that wants to conceive use artificial insimination.

My point is, to make the punishment severe enough that people will start to realize 'IF I DO THIS, I WILL DIE".

That's really fucking narrow and judgmental. First of all, we're all gonna die, second, you speak as if these people committed a crime and deserve punishment. I'm REALLY glad you're not a politician or on any boards that make big decisions.

There can be exceptions to the rule. People that are raped, or unfaithful spouces

And how do we know who got it from being raped vs. who got it through a consentual act?

I PRAY for those that have the disease and struggle with it on a day to day basis.

Null and void, irrelevant, why pray for them if you demand that they be punished?

Once it's in control, THEN regulate it more stringently. The point is to cut down on stupid sex.

Cut down on stupid sex? What are you going to solve next, poverty? Depression? What other complex situations can be solved with your narrow reasoning?

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

Just have to find a patient that has HIV and lupus and study them too... which according to the article shouldn't be able to exist.

No.

Sounds to me like if it does work... it gives you lupus.

No.

What the article said was this: It’s naturally produced by people, like lupus patients. When they applied that abzyme to the HIV virus, it permanently disarmed it.
That doesn't tell you enough to say that someone with lupus could not be affected with HIV. Doesn't tell you, for example, if the quantity required to combat HIV is the quantity that a Lupus-infected person will have in their body.
And to say that a substance is one that patients with a given disease naturally produce, certainly doesn't say that giving that substance gives that disease.

My point is, to make the punishment severe enough that people will start to realize 'IF I DO THIS, I WILL DIE".
There can be exceptions to the rule. People that are raped, or unfaithful spouces, bad blood transfusions, acts of crime, etc.
The laws are already in place, that if an infected person infects another they go to jail for manslaughter.
I PRAY for those that have the disease and struggle with it on a day to day basis. I say Try your best to stay strong until this is available to all of you.
Once it's in control, THEN regulate it more stringently.
The point is to cut down on stupid sex.

Appalling, Rikter.

 

[marleyisalegend]

Appalling, Rikter.

I know it was only one post, but I gave him two strikes on my "might be a troll" board. Maybe he's just ignorant and should stick to the Celeb Endowment forum, like a two year-old trying to explain advanced physics. No, go play with Thomas the Train.

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

I know it was only one post, but I gave him two strikes on my "might be a troll" board.

Don't worry, Rikter's no troll.