[Zimphire]

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-...507070204.html

A durable new drug that prevents HIV from entering human cells and causes almost no side effects has been developed by a team of researchers at Kumamoto University.

The new drug, code named AK602, was reported by the research team's leader, Hiroaki Mitsuya, at the International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific in Kobe on Tuesday.

[mitchell_pgh]

wow... will this turn AIDS into the new polio?

I also feel bad for AIDS babies

[ghporter]

I'm looking forward to seeing the results of wider-scale human studies of this. It's about damn time somebody found something to keep the virus out... High hopes here.

[budster101]

That is awesome! Great for Africa and the world.
Looks like AIDS has come to an end finally! Thank You Modern Medicine.

[mitchell_pgh]

Originally Posted by budster101

That is awesome! Great for Africa and the world.
Looks like AIDS has come to an end finally! Thank You Modern Medicine.

Not to sound negative, but I've seen this before... company says they have 'cure' for AIDS... then it's proven not to work etc. etc.

I hope for the best and plan for the worst.

[budster101]

Well, I have a few gay relatives, and I'm also tired of my wife relating stories of patients that come in with HIV because their spouse cheated on them... I'm going to pray and cross my fingers as I'm also a bit supersticious. (Severed Hand... don't even.)

[C.J. Moof]

So if someone who has AIDS gets this drug, the cells that are currently infected stay infected, and making more virus, but it just can't go anywhere? Therefore, they'll live as a carrier forever, with the disease effectively on pause?

Just trying to figure out what this means in the real world implementation.

[wdlove]

This is awesome medical news. Just hope that continued trials will prove efficacy of the new drug.

[moonmonkey]

I wish we could find a drug to stop people f*cking people hey don't know without condoms.

Good news anyway.

[JoshuaZ]

Originally Posted by C.J. Moof

So if someone who has AIDS gets this drug, the cells that are currently infected stay infected, and making more virus, but it just can't go anywhere? Therefore, they'll live as a carrier forever, with the disease effectively on pause?

Just trying to figure out what this means in the real world implementation.

If I remember correctly from biology 101 in college, most cells die and are replaced by new cells.

Plus if you had this drug that prevented infection, all the cells that would probably transmit HIV (blood, sex fluids) are cells that have a very short life cycle. So it would make the person less of an infection threat or no threat at all.

[C.J. Moof]

I think you're right- most have a short lifespan. But blood isn't just red and white blood cells- it carries nutients and waste products, hormones, ect. Could the virus still be existing in the blood, outside of cells?

[JoshuaZ]

Originally Posted by C.J. Moof

I think you're right- most have a short lifespan. But blood isn't just red and white blood cells- it carries nutients and waste products, hormones, ect. Could the virus still be existing in the blood, outside of cells?

Very true indeed. But i'm thinking that if the virus doesn't have anything to feed or reproduce off of in the body, shouldn't it just die off after a while? Viri don't live forever.

[C.J. Moof]

A virus is a bunch of DNA or RNA in a protein container. Most scientists don't consider them to be alive.

I'm not convinced it couldn't just hang out in the bloodstream indefinitely. It won't be able to invade it's host's cells to replicate itself, but I think the carrier would still be contagious to others.

[ghporter]

I believe individual HIV viruses are fairly short-lived (even if they aren't defined as "alive," a subject or continued scientific controversy). Without the ability to invade T-cells and subvert them, the HIV infection should regress to a very low-level, reducing the potential for opportunistic infections to strike.

For the last several years HIV drugs have gone farther and farther in reducing the virus' ability to reproduce, greatly reducing symptoms in patients, and extending their lives. This sounds like it could work in concert with existing treatments to smack the virus hard. Very good news indeed.

Originally Posted by moonmonkey

I wish we could find a drug to stop people f*cking people hey don't know without condoms.

That would be quite a trick. However, as long as people continue to use alcohol to excess, they will continue to "forget about" condoms. Or if they continue using IV drugs and sharing needles, they'll still spread HIV.

[spatterson]

Too bad there is not a direct way to destroy the virus itself. But by blocking it from attacking the white blood cells, doesn't that mean that the human body could defend itself from virus attacks?

[Superchicken]

I'm glad this is happening. That said I wonder how much this will actually help Africa and other places where people still believe things like having sex with a virgin will cure them.

[Millennium]

Originally Posted by budster101

That is awesome! Great for Africa and the world.
Looks like AIDS has come to an end finally! Thank You Modern Medicine.

Unfortunately, this isn't the case. Even if this drug turns out to work as they claim -and it will be several years before that is proven- it doesn't act as a cure so much as a blocker. It doesn't sound as though it lasts long enough to be used as a vaccine either.

What it could be useful for would be as a kind of emergency treatment, usable shortly after initial exposure to keep the HIV virus from taking root at all. Unfortunately, this requires the person to know they've been exposed, and most people who are exposed don't know it at the time. As others have noted, it may also be able to cause full-blown AIDS cases to revert to HIV+ status (you have the virus, but show no symptoms), which while far from pleasant isn't fatal as long as it stays at that stage.

In other words, this is a good step, but it's no Holy Grail. Maybe you could call it a Beatified Shot Glass or something, but an actual cure isn't there yet.

[Millennium]

Originally Posted by spatterson

Too bad there is not a direct way to destroy the virus itself. But by blocking it from attacking the white blood cells, doesn't that mean that the human body could defend itself from virus attacks?

Unfortunately, no. White blood cells defend the body from attack by absorbing pathogens like this and then being eliminated as waste. AIDS is so effective because it capitalizes on that mechanism in order to infect the body. Essentially, the best it can do is bring the fight to a draw: the virus can't take root, but the body can't expel it.

[OwlBoy]

I have said this before, but I will say it again.

I HATE news stories like this. You hear about it once, then it goes away and never becomes true. The nightly news if filled with this crap. Whats the point of reporting on every possible advancement, that might be an advancement?

-Owl

p.s. here is where I said this before: http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.php?p=1785060

[CreepingDeth]

Originally Posted by moonmonkey

I wish we could find a drug to stop people f*cking people hey don't know without condoms.

Good news anyway.

It's more than just condoms, buddy.

[Athens]

More Info
http://gateway.nlm.nih.gov/robot_pag...DS0021043.html

[Cody Dawg]

If it's true then they will win the Nobel for Medicine.

[moonmonkey]

Originally Posted by CreepingDeth

It's more than just condoms, buddy.

Oh, thanks.

[Sealobo]

Originally Posted by Cody Dawg

If it's true then they will win the Nobel for Medicine.

i think a native Hong Kong doctor invented something called "cocktail treatment" for AIDS and he was Person of the Year of Time magazine few years back... did he win Nobel?

o and Magic Johnson is still alive.