Researchers Inches Away From Finding Cure For HIV/AIDS

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HIV And AIDS
HIV And AIDS

A news item which was published in a popular newspaper in Toronto-Canada to announce a promise in finding a cure to the dreaded HIV/AIDS, made hundreds of people to run for their copies of the newspaper.

Toronto Metro Newspaper on Friday December 20, 2013, carried a story it culled from the Associated Press which had it that there could be a major breakthrough in finding a cure to the dreaded disease.

Since the paper is free, commuters on buses going to work or school or wherever in the morning either pick their copies from the news box at the bus stops, subway stations or by the drivers on board the buses to read and get informed of things happening in the city, country and the world over.

But this morning, there was a scenario where at the subways, bus stops and by the side of the drivers on board the buses almost every passenger was seen holding a copy of the paper reading to get informed of what was published.

Later on it was learnt that the news item was discussed on some radio stations through their newspaper review segment of their morning shows so people wanted to read and get the full details of the story.

Not because all the readers who rushed for their copies were HIV/AIDS patients looking for cure but rather it showed how the residents are much concerned about the spreading of the dreaded disease and the continuous fight to find a cure to the disease.

Details of the story as the Toronto Metro Newspaper carried it on Page 20 are as follows:

EPILEPSY DRUG OFFERS PROMISE IN AIDS FIGHT.

 

????????? ?Works beautifully? in human tissue. Scientists believe it could prevent HIV from attacking the immune system?.

 

Can an experimental drug developed to treat epilepsy block the AIDS virus? A preliminary lab study suggests it?s possible, and researchers are eager to try it in people.

Scientists experimented with the drug after uncovering details of how they believe HIV cripples the immune system to bring on AIDS.

When tested in human tissues in the laboratory, the drug ?works beautifully? to prevent HIV from destroying key cells of the immune system, said Dr. Warner Greene of the Gladstone Institute in San Francisco.

Those results appear in a paper by Greene and others published Thursday on nature.

Researchers have long known HIV infects some vital CD4 cells in the immune system and turns them into virus producing factories, killing them in the process.

The Epilepsy drug which is not on the market, blocks an enzyme that the research identify as playing a key role in the immune system attack.

Prior studies of the drug in people show it is safe, Greene said. So the researchers are talking to the drug company about testing it in people infected with HIV. No timeline for such studies has been set, he said.

 

Sources: Associated Press and Toronto Metro Newspaper.

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