Factoid:
In 1998 an estimated 6 million people became infected with the HIV virus worldwide, and some 2.5 million people died of AIDS. In some countries of central Africa, over 20 percent of adults could die of AIDS during the coming decade.
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Quote:
The HIV epidemic should be seen [as] an international emergency of epic proportions, one that could claim more lives in the early part of the next century than WWII did in this century. -- Lester Brown, Worldwatch Institute
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HIV Can Hide in Body for Decades
New research shows that current HIV-suppressing drugs cannot cure or prevent AIDS, because the HIV virus can 'hide' in the human body for up to 60 years.
Start Date: 5/10/99
A study reported in the May 1999 edition of the journal Nature Medicine says that the virus thought to cause AIDS can hide inside certain kinds of cells for up to 60 years, even if the patient's blood level of HIV is almost zero. The finding suggests that the current generation of HIV-suppressing drugs may hold the disease at bay but cannot offer a cure.
"This doesn't mean a cure is impossible," said Dr. Robert Siliciano, senior author of the study and a professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. It means some additional therapy would have to be created to eradicate the hidden virus, he said.
One approach to long-term AIDS treatment is to drive serum levels of the HIV virus as low as possible with drugs, then build up the immune system to help eradicate the hidden reservoirs of HIV the drugs can't reach. At present, however, it is not clear what HIV does while hiding in the reservoir cells -- for example, how long it can go without replicating, and what happens if the host cell dies. More study of that aspect of the disease might suggest a new path toward cure.
Siliciano said the new findings underscore the fact that HIV-positive people who have not developed full-blown AIDS must remain on their HIV-suppressing regimens indefinitely, even when serum HIV is undetectable.
 Excelsior, Michael Lindemann's new novel (written under the pen name Michael Paul), depicts a wholly plausible near future in which human cloning is both widespread and widely abused; terrorists have access to target-specific biological weapons; recreational space travel is commonplace; and mounting pressures of global climate change, environmental decline, population growth and civil unrest inspire radical new approaches to urban security.
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U.S. Treasury Secretary-to-Be Dumps on World
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Amtrak Unveils First High-Speed Train in U.S.
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Israel Bans Genetic Cloning
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Bee Venom Therapy May Ease Many Ailments
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China Got U.S. Nuke Secrets -- How Much Damage?
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