Why haven't we found the cure for AIDS and HIV?

Question

Why are people in postdoctoral research not able to find a vulnerable area to exploit for pharmaceutical solutions? I understand that there are 2 different strains of th HIV virus along with multiple subcategories and that it mutates from person to person but can't we figure out what to do with a virus once its present in the immune system? I find it strange how we have all the research and money in the world but we're not well educated in how to battle a virus

Answer 1

The VERY worst problem with HIV is that its a retrovirus. When it infects you, it doesn't just make you sick, it CHANGES YOUR DNA. It puts a copy of itself in there, so as long as any infected cell or any cell produced from infected tissues is alive, you will have a copy of the virus because it is now a part of YOU.

This means it is currently IMPOSSIBLE to cure a person with HIV. Even if we manage to kill every viral particle in their system, the virus DNA is part of their DNA, and more viral particles will just keep showing up over and over and over.

The the only way to cure an infected patient will be with genetic engineering. And we're just not good enough to do that yet.

There is, however, another way to cure the disease as a whole - the same way we cured polio (another viral disease). If we come up with working vaccinations or otherwise prevent any new people from being infected, then as soon as all the old infected people are dead there will be no more virus to spread.

And there ARE HIV vaccines that are currently being tested on humans to see how well they work. It will take a long time to determine this, though... HIV has an average onset time of three years. As you point out as well, the HIV virus is particularly good at avoiding attack and mutating on its own, so we may be looking at a bunch of similar innoculations instead of just one cure-all shot.

Even when we have a vaccine, don't expect the disease to disappear overnight. It took more than forty years of vaccinations for polio to reduce it to current levels. And HIV may well be a lot more pernicious and long-lasting than polio... especially considering the whole retroviral problem.

Answer 2

No, yet whilst u commence taking the meds as quickly as you get them and whilst the guy is meant to, it helps alot! I observed some thing on television the place this female grew to become into clinically determined with HIV i think of 13 years in the past cuz her b/f messed around. She caught it early, took her meds even whilst they made her ill and he or she continues to be HIV +. (AIDS makes u ill not HIV). Magic Johnson's meds artwork so properly that when he is going for commonplace verify united stateshis exams arise adverse, no he's not cured, it basically is going to coach how properly his (very high priced) meds are working. we are on the factor of a treatment im useful of it, i think of in the subsequent 2 many years we could have one

Answer 3

Well, skeptical answer.

It costs so much to the patient to even treat aids/HIV to keep it from killing you it makes millions a day for those dependant on the drug. People are paying upwards to 500 dollars a pill just to take it 3 times a day. Insurance companies reap for decades off of the deads family. Also so many companies declare they found the cure and get research grants that are upwards to 20 million dollars.

Realistic answer,

We already have. Its a process of oxygen being introduced to the individual cells because pure oxygen is toxic to the virus. Unfortunately, its toxic to us as well. There is no affective way to administer straight oxygen to the body without killing off the bodies cells and effectively shutting down your organs and brain.

Answer 4

Viruses can't be cured, only prevented. We have never cured a virus, we can only treat the symptoms while our immune system fights it off. In the case of HIV, your immune system is the part of your body being attacked so you cannot fight off the pathogen. Hopefully scientists will invent a vaccine that can prevent this horrible disease.

Answer 5

I can't think of any viral disease for which there is a cure. They haven't developed a vaccine because of the nature of the virus. If they did, it would make mountains of money for the developers, because a lot of developed countries like the US would buy it, so I don't think it is financial.

Answer 6

Thats a very good question and sadly I don't have an answer. But why havent we found a cure for cancer?

Answer 7

It is because the cure is very simple and America is distracted to the middle east prosecuting a war while others are looking for very complex solutions.

Answer 8

Because think of all the jobs that would be lost if we did.
That and the diseases mutate insanely fast.

Answer 9

Personally, i believe that there is a cure out there, i think they are holding out for population control, magic johnson anyone?

Answer 10

There was a cure for AIDS but the only type of rubber tree that secreted a crucial ingredient was destroyed by industrialists.