The AIDS virus, difficult to overcome

2008/04/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Mikrobiologia
• Medikuntza

People affected by AIDS do not get rid of the virus even when antiretroviral therapy allows no virus remains in the blood. Researchers from the U.S. institute NIAID have reached this conclusion after analyzing people who have been on AIDS treatment for a long time.

Current treatments are very effective and allow us to affirm that AIDS has become a chronic disease -- at least in developed countries and among those receiving health care. However, according to the NIAID study, medicine has not yet managed to completely overcome the virus. In fact, despite the disappearance of the blood, the virus is hidden in the intestinal tissues and re-infect the cells of the immune system. Therefore, treatment should be for life, as it is impossible to completely cure AIDS.

Another conclusion is that the AIDS virus infects the intestinal tissue at the beginning of the infection, so the sooner you know that you are infected, the more likely that the virus gets there and can cure it. In this sense, early diagnosis is recommended.