Breathe Today

If you haven't already heard, there was a transplant case in Germany a couple of days ago that could potentially lead to the discovery of a cure for AIDS(HIV virus). Yes, a "cure" not a "treatment".

ABC news article

For those not familiar with terminology.
Treatment is usually used to mean a therapy to suppress or control a disease, not necessarily eliminating it from the body altogether.
However, cure means exactly that.

So in the case of AIDS(HIV virus), there are plenty of treatments available these days that can quite reliably extend the patients life for as long as decades. However, these treatments are costly and would mean that the patient will require life-long care. With the discovery of a cure, which we hope will arrive somewhere in the near future, there will be obvious benefits to millions of people worldwide, especially to those in poor African nations. This of cause, would depend on the cost of the cure as well.

Anyway, this particular breakthrough, if I could call it that, banks on the method of gene therapy. (Read news article, I won't repeat). And to me, gene therapy is a method that has vast potential. If successful, this could potentially lead to the discovery of cures for many infectious diseases that are as of now "cureless", such as Herpes(cold sores), which infects millions.

The hope now rest on whether the required funding is put into research on this matter and hopefully the cure will come in the near future.

Hmm, this can be counted as part of my "coming soon" Global Health series, though unplanned. Kinda works as an introduction.


TY