Question
When will there be a cure for HIV?
18 September 2014. Related: All topics, Cure, Living with HIV long-term.
Hello,
Thanks for your answer to my previous question.
I have managed to convince my girlfriend who tested HIV positive not to commit suicide. I told her to take medications for the next few years.
I told her that i was convinced that there would be a cure in the next few years. Are my hopes justified?
In your opinion how long do you think it would take to find a cure if any?
What websites give such information?
Answer
Learning that you have HIV can be tough. But while coming to term with this it should help to know that current treatment means that most people can lead long, normal, lives.
We can do the same things we did in life before we had HIV. This includes sport, work, getting married and having children. Some people even say that finding out they were HIV positive meant that they valued life more than they did before.
Some people make changes in their lives for the better, in ways they might not have done otherwise. Life may be slightly more complicated with HIV, but access to good treatment allows all these things.
When someone is first diagnosed they may not have information, or they may not believe it. This is why access to accurate information is so important.
As for a cure, I’m sure it will come. In the last five years there has been a dramatic increase in this research. Scientists are making great progress in working on all the sections of this very complex problem.
Science has a way of solving most problems. If not now, then it will happen in the future. But putting a timeline on when is tough. Many of the leading scientists are cautious on this. Many suggest at least ten years is reasonable but an unexpected breakthough could change this.
One part of the challenge for HIV is that the virus becomes part of the genetic material (DNA) of immune cells. Some of these cells, once infected, rest or sleep for many years. Currently HIV drugs only work in cells that are active or awake, but research is looking at ways of targeting those sleeping cells.
This article describes new approaches to cure research:
https://i-base.info/guides/art-in-pictures/the-hiv-cure-puzzle
Even if a cure is a long way off it is not something that I worry about. It will come, and treatment will keep me healthy and alive until then. Following research is a good was to keep informed – both for newer treatments and for research into vaccines and ‘a cure’.
Most HIV organisations have newsletters that report on research from medical conferences. If you email me with which country you live in I can suggest something that may be useful.
Note: The answer was updated in September 2014 from a question asked in August 2007.
Hi Thomas,
Being diagnosed with HIV can be difficult to come to terms with. What you need to do is slow down, you’ll be fine. If you aren’t already on medication, then this is something that you should think about. This is more important if your CD4 is below 350. Being on meds will allow you to control your HIV. For more info, please see here:
http://i-base.info/guides/starting
http://i-base.info/i-base-qa-on-the-start-study-results/
Other than thinking about meds, having someone to talk to might help. Is there someone you can talk to? Or is there a support near to where you live?
I’m not sure what you mean by big pharma doing it for money. Both HIV and Aids do exist. Yes, pharma companies make a lot of money out of HIV medication, but its also them that help millions of people live.
My test came back HIV positive, I’m just 20, what should I do next? Some people says HIV and AIDS don’t have any relations.Big pharma doing it for money.Is that true?
Hi Meena,
As of yet there isn’t a cure for HIV. ARV’s are however very effective at controlling HIV.
My husband has HIV and he’s a diabetic. When will he be cured?
Hi Zibusiso,
Could you please be more specific?
Who can I contact when I discover something new about HIV?
Hi Samuel,
I can’t comment on why you’re going to the toilet during the right, nor why your urine is green. This is something that you should talk to a doctor about.
I can however tell you that the immune boosters won’t be helping your HIV. And that you drinking a lot of water won’t help reduce the possible toxins from the ARVs.
I am currently on HIV medication and I am taking immune boosters. I was adviced to drink a lot of water, so that it would help reduce the toxins from the drugs.
The thing is, I visit the toilets like 3 times in the night. I have ran tests for diabetes and also did urinary tests which show no bacteria detected and my fasting sugar is okay,what could be cause of going to toilets at night and sometimes greenish urine? I am just 25.
Hi Richard,
No one has developed a cure for HIV, be this in the UK or in India. There are though people working really hard to try and find one. It is though difficult owing to the complexity of the virus.
thanks for the information, but how far has the scientists go with research on the cure for the hiv virus. I also gathered information that in India they can now cure the virus using a system called holistic treatment for hiv in 90 days, have you ever had of this?