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One of the deadliest viruses in the world, HIV is responsible for the deaths of over 1 million people worldwide every year. The relatively low number is owed to the advancement of medication, while the people that manage to live with the disease all say how hard it is. But there might be light at the end of the tunnel, as researchers foresee a plausible end to AIDS.
Possible end for AIDS?
No, sadly there is nothing concrete yet. However, multiple researchers including the co-chairman and medical research director of the Fenway Institute, Dr. Kenneth H. Mayer, claim that with the current rate at which advances in the field are developing, we might actually soon be able to put an end to the disease.
According to them, we have finally reached a point in the AIDS research were we most likely don’t need any more tools to help us fight against the epidemic. Instead, we pretty much have all the tools we need to help cure it. All we need is more time to work on the necessary medication.
A very large part of the scientific world will be together in one place, talking, consulting, and brainstorming in order to raise awareness and to hopefully come up with a cure or a new treatment together. Even though we probably won’t be seeing the illness’ end in next few years, some experts are pretty sure that we’ll see it by the end of the next decade.
Advanced prevention techniques
Starting today and lasting until Thursday, the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections will be taking place in Boston. Here, multiple world renowned experts will be talking about the advancements made in the medical field of AIDS research.
Two of the major announcements will revolve around a vaginal ring coated with antiretroviral medication which would allow women to be able to have sex with infected partners without them suffering any risk of infection.
The second major announcement will revolve around an anti-HIV vaccine. Even though very little has been disclosed about the vaccine, how it works, and how it was developed, the team of researchers hyping it up assure people that it will be a very important step in eradicating the disease.
It won’t be the be-all and end-all of AIDS, but it will pave the way for the next vaccine, which the doctors will start testing next month, having trials performed on over 4,000 high risk men and women volunteering from all over the world in order to attempt helping put a stop to the horrible illness.
Image source: The Blue Diamond Gallery
