New approach to HIV eradication

A new approach is being tested that could be used to eradicate HIV infection in humans.

Researchers at the University of Montreal and the VGTI Florida are looking at how HIV can continue to replicate itself despite being treated.

In the journal Nature Medicine, they noted that HIV could be destroyed in the future rather than just controlled.

Rafick-Pierre Sekaly, lead author and scientific director for VGTI Florida, said that despite advances in treatment, current medication does not remove HIV.

He said: "We propose the use of medications that target viral replication of HIV throughout the body, in combination with drugs that prevent infected memory T-cells from dividing.

"We believe that by attacking the disease in these distinct two ways at once for an extended period of time, we can eliminate the reservoirs of HIV that currently persist within the human body, leaving an individual disease-free."

Around 90 per cent of HIV-infected patients can survive by being treated with a combination of antiretroviral drugs.

News brought to you by Global Health TV, connecting health communities