en-us Copyright 2008 - All Rights Reserved. Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:33:12 GMT 15 By Joe P. - Editorial Editor
On Wednesday, Feburary 11 th , Dr. Jeffrey Laurence of New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and his elite team of doctors, researches, and scientists discovered what they believe could be the cure for HIV.   For those who aren’t familiar with virus, HIV is one of the most deadly known viruses . It is contracted mainly through unprotected sexual intercourse or accidental sharing of needles in blood transfusions. Later on, HIV may develop into AIDS, a condition which destroys the immune system, and in turn allows one to become infected by all diseases, viruses, and bacteria. Once someone contracts the virus, it stays there. In this case, a man from Germany who had the HIV virus agreed to allow Dr. Laurance to experiment on him with his new "gene therapy." This man had leukemia and was ready to try anything. "You always have to start in one place, with one patient and see how we can do it for other people," said Dr. Laurence. The doctor, however, does think this will provide for a universal cure however. The bone marrow transplant has a low rate of success, and pleads that only patients who have "nothing to lose" should attempt this type of cure. It was remarkable not only how the man had cured his HIV, but also how he had survived the transplant. The experiment won’t benefit the ordinary patient just yet, but it does open a new door to brand new scientific approaches to battling the virus," said Dr. Jay Adlersberg, a reporter for Eyewitness News and an expert on medical advances. The bone marrow transplant had actually been done two years ago. Doctor’s didn’t believe it would develop into a huge success, and did not expect the great news when they followed up on the patient. "This person, now over two years, has no evidence of HIV anywhere in his body," Dr. Laurence said. The gene that was used was not any ordinary one. It was Delta 32 CCR5. This genetic mutation exists in 1.5 percent of the Caucasian population, and it makes the carrier immune to HIV. The transplant to the patient made him immune, and essentially, he was cured. There is much more work to be done. Likely, the true cure for HIV will not come in the next few months. But what was once a blind hope, a fool’s hope, is now a reality, and on Wednesday, February 11 th , that reality just got a lot closer.   (Information courtesy of www.abclocal.go.com) ]]> Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:52:06 GMT