A weakening virus?On World AIDS Day World AIDS Day, observed December 1 each year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. AIDS has killed more than 25 million people, with an estimated 38. , December 1, advocates once again remember those lost. This year, however, researchers in Belgium are predicting an end to the losing. Writing in the October 15 edition of the journal AIDS, a team of Belgian scientists said that as the AIDS virus AIDS virus n. See HIV. mutates Mutates Undergoes a spontaneous change in the make-up of genes or chromosomes. Mentioned in: Antiretroviral Drugs to thwart the body's immune system, it is slowly losing its ability to kill. Such viral weakening could mean an end to HIV-related deaths within 50 to 60 years, they said. Other AIDS experts, however, cautioned that HIV HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), either of two closely related retroviruses that invade T-helper lymphocytes and are responsible for AIDS. There are two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is responsible for the vast majority of AIDS in the United States. could remain virulent for hundreds of years. Viral weakening is "a very slow process," warned Marco Vitoria, an AIDS expert at the World Health Organization, "to be measured not in years but in generations." For coverage of World AIDS Day and other health-related news, go to www.advocate.com. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion