A Total Cure for HIV - Essay Example

The paper “Is Total Cure from the Human Immunodeficiency Viruses Possible?" is an impressive example of a term paper on health sciences & medicine. AIDS is one of the most dreaded diseases in the world today. The first cases of AIDS were documented in New York and San Francisco. Millions of people are diagnosed with AIDS, but the condition started with HIV infection. More than 3 million people die each year from the disease. The condition is acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or AIDS.

Drugs have been developed for HIV by interfering with the growth of the virus. The substances were able to slow the disease progression, but no cure is still available (Dowshen, 2009). Studies have been continuously done to look for a cure. In the studies, scientists deal with the mechanism of infection or how a person may get HIV.The mechanism of infection from HIV to AIDS happens when HIV destroys CD4 positive (CD4+) T cells. T cells are part of the immune system which are actually white blood cells that combat foreign bodies that may cause illness and protect the human body.

When HIV destroys the T cells, the infected people would have reduced the ability to combat the disease that later on becomes AIDS. People may go on normal lives for years starting from the initial infection, so it means they are asymptomatic but they are already infected. As time passes by, CD4+ T cell count drops and leaves the body more vulnerable to opportunistic infections. Antiretroviral drugs can be administered to patients to lessen the viral load in the body and keep the CD4+ T cell count from getting low.

People can be considered to have AIDS when there CD4+ cell count drop and the normal count is about 800 to 1,200 CD4+ T cells per cubic millimeter of blood (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, n.d.). the infection would be really deadly once the infected people would not test for HIV and take the proper medications to reduce the speed of viral reproduction in the body. They may survive a normal lifespan although they are infected as long as they live a healthy lifestyle. It would be impossible at the moment for people to be thoroughly cured of HIV or AIDS according to science.

Despite the results and conclusions made by the studies, an astounding man was able to overcome the ideology by being free from HIV completely after infection according to recent news as he went out in public to become a living testimony to the news. His name is Timothy Brown and he is a 45-year-old German translator living in San Francisco, California. His height is average and his hair is thinning. He was diagnosed with HIV last 1995. Until the year 2000, he was not tested again for the virus until his former partner became positive.

His partner expected that the life of Brown would just be for the next two years but anti-retroviral drugs were taken and he was able to survive. He went to Berlin where he continued his career. In the year 2006, Brown was in Berlin with a new German boyfriend named Michael. He traveled to a faraway place for a wedding but he noticed some bad feelings and also during his bicycle journeys to his work. His boyfriend then called a doctor for assistance. The cure for the emergency was chemotherapy and it was used also to cure his leukemia.

His only hope for a better chance of surviving was a stem-cell transplant and he needed a bone-marrow donor. His doctor got an idea. Although he is not an HIV specialist he knew the principle that certain genetic mutation in humans gives people the ability to be virus-resistant. The mutation is known as delta 32 stops CCR5 which is a receptor on the surface of immune-system cells that is HIV’s path inside. Human beings who are lucky enough to have both copies from their parents are resistant to HIV.

It is a bit common in Germany like one in a hundred. His doctor thought of the possibility of having a stem cell donor with delta-32 mutation as a solution to the diseases Brown had. The operation was a success and Brown was able to rehabilitate himself to live a normal life again. Many HIV researchers did not accept the claims about Brown even though solid proofs were already shown since it is not practical for all people with HIV or AIDS and it causes too much wastage on time (Rosenberg, 2011).

The news amazed many people as the impossible becomes possible. It may not be practical, but the possibility is there already right in front of the eyes of the world. Many scientists may not believe it as perhaps they may judge Brown’s physician as he is not an HIV specialist, but he was the one who administered the possibility and made the result possible. More studies must be conducted to strengthen the new found solution to AIDS as it may give a potential solution for millions of people infected with the virus and give them new lives.

Perhaps in the future AIDS will not be a dreaded disease anymore as more support are available not just to lengthen the lives of people but also cure them completely of the disease in a practical and efficient manner.