I recently read the article “Baby
may be cured of HIV” by Nathan Seppa on the Science
News Magazine (http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/348710/description/Baby_may_be_cured_of_HIV). This article explains how scientists have
removed the HIV virus from a baby girl.
Some researchers question whether the virus had taken hold of the baby
or if it just carried from her mother.
She was injected with three antiretroviral drugs once a week until her
mother stopped bringing her to the doctors.
Now at two and a half years old, she is HIV free! These medications intercepted the virus
before it made reservoirs in the body that are unaffected by the drugs.
The
cure of HIV has only happened once before with a man in Berlin. The HIV was terminated after he received a
bone marrow transplant from a donor who had a specific DNA mutation that made
his cells resistant to the virus. This
shows how the donor’s DNA mutations were beneficial because it made his cells
evolve from the virus. This therapy could lead to “reducing the 300,000 HIV-infected
births every year” according to Daniel Kuritzkes.
I
think this is a phenomenal discovery that could save the lives of
millions. Not only will it help America,
but it can help countries in Africa, which has the highest rate of HIV
infection in the world (22.9 million).
If more people donate, more research can be made which could possibly
result in a cure within a couple years.
In
biology we learned about mutations. The
mother of the baby infected with HIV in the article had HIV in her genes since
birth. Her genes were passed onto the
baby girl. The man from Berlin was given
bone marrow that was resistant to HIV.
These two HIV cures show the beneficial and detrimental results of DNA
mutation.
HIV
leads to AIDS which destroys your immune system. This potential cure could save the lives of 2
million people a year in the U.S. All in
all we are one step closer to avenging the deaths of millions of HIV victims in
the world.
PICTURE
URL: http://zeusdreamcaster.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/child-born-with-hiv-is-functionally-cured/
I think that the doctors that made this discovery were very intelligent even if they stumbled onto it by accident. Curing 300,000 cases of HIV infected births each year is only the start to curing HIV in its later stages. I liked how you said that it will not only help America but will help other countries that need help too, like Africa. I think that is worth donating to save up to 2 million U.S. citizens a year!
ReplyDeleteI think this might be a huge break through in finding the cure to aids. I saw in the news today a few patients with Leukemia have been treated. The treatment eliminated cancer cells then patients had bone marrow transplants. soon i think they wil have a cure for these major diseases.
ReplyDeleteConnor, good job on your post! I think this could be the start of something huge. We are on the right track to curing aids which is an easily spread infection. I think it is interesting that this infection has only been cured one other time. This article relates very nicely to our class because we recently learned about mutations and specifically, HIV. Hopefully we can find a way to cure the millions of people who still have HIV.
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