A 2004 report by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS estimates that in 2003 alone around 4.8 million people became infected with HIV, while around 37.8 million people overall were living with HIV. In 2003 this viral infection killed 2.9 million people, and over 20 million people have died since the first cases of AIDS were identified in 1981.
HIV is a chronic and deadly infection that can take years to cause damage to the person's immune system. Eventually, the immune system cannot keep up with the amount of damage and the host becomes an AIDS patient. Many people don't know they are infected until having unusual health problems or following routine testing.
The virus can be transmitted through sexual interactions, sharing of contaminated intravenous needles, and exposure in the womb from HIV-infected mothers. HIV methodically kills most of the cells important in helping the immune system respond to infection.
These cells are called T-helper cells (T-lymphocytes or CD-4 cells). T-helper cells help other cells (B-lymphocytes, B-cells) in our body to make antibiotics and others (CD-8 cells, T-cytotoxic cells, and other T-lymphocytes) to eliminate virus-infected cells and tumor cells.
Promising Research: HAART Therapy and Valproate
Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy (HAART; HIV is in the retrovirus family of viruses) is able to slow the persistent and systemic multiplication of HIV in the T-helper cells. Unfortunately, whenever someone on HAART therapy stops taking the medications the HIV virus starts up again.
In 1997, researchers learned that not all T-helper cells become activated and produce HIV virus following infection. Some become resting cells. These contain the HIV virus genome in their DNA and it is believed that these HIV infected resting T-helper cells are the source for renewed multiplication of the HIV virus following termination of HAART therapy.
Recently some scientists at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas have found that the drug valproate used in treating epilepsy might be useful in eliminating these HIV-infected resting T-cells.
Valproate inhibits an enzyme in the resting T-cells that keeps the HIV virus from multiplying, and allows viruses to commence virus replication. The medication does this without activating all the T-helper cells and causing too much virus replication.
By intensifying their HAART therapy and adding in a new medication called Enfuvirtide they were able to lower the number of HIV-infected resting T-cells by greater than 70% in 3 out of the 4 patients tested. However, not all the HIV-infected resting T-cells were eliminated and much more work still needs to be done, but there is now more hope that other less toxic inhibitors might be found.
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