The Holy Grail of modern medicine — a cure for the HIV infection that causes AIDS — was once considered unrealistic and out of reach but thanks, in part, to Australian research that is changing.
A group of scientists led by Nobel Medicine laureate Francoise Barre-Sinoussi have unveiled a research strategy for an outright cure, published in the Nature Medicine Journal.
"Not long ago, few considered the possibility that a cure for HIV infection could someday be possible," Barre-Sinoussi said in a statement.
"Today, thanks in part to advances such as the cure of an HIV-infected individual through a stem cell transplant, the identification of a small cohort of individuals who are able to control infection following treatment, and some noteworthy advances in cell, gene and immune therapy, the search for a cure has become a top priority in HIV research.
“In 2016, that search is marked by growing scientific interest, an increasing number of novel research strategies in development, and a new optimism that a cure or sustainable remission for HIV is feasible.”
In 1983, Barre-Sinoussi helped identify the virus that causes Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS).
Related reading
What does it mean to have ‘undetectable’ HIV?
Australian Professor Sharon Lewin, Director of the Doherty Institute, is a leading figure in HIV cure research and was closely involved in developing the strategy.
Professor Lewin says Australia has played a very active role in cure research, as have some countries in Asia, particularly Thailand.
“Most of the work being done in Australia is around something called 'shock and kill', which is finding a way to drive the virus out of its hiding places,” Professor Lewin told SBS.
“And Thailand has been very innovative in capturing people, or diagnosing people with HIV very, very early after becoming infected, within days, and therefore starting treatment very early. And if you treat early you have very low levels of virus that persist.”
Once such study on the effects of early diagnosis and threatment will be made next week at the 21st International AIDS 2016 Conference in Durban, South Africa.
90-90-90
The "90-90-90 target" is a central focus of the campaign to end the AIDS epidemic as a major public health threat by 2030.
The goal is to have 90 per cent of people who are infected made aware of their status, have 90 per cent of known positives starting Anti-Retro-Virals (ARVs), while pushing to have 90 per cent of that group bring down the amount of HIV in their bloodstream to undetectable levels.
The hope is that as these levels drop, transmission will as well.
But earlier this year, Epidemiologist Salim Abdool Karim, who runs the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), said recent data from Botswana cast doubt over the plan.
Botswana's population of two million people has almost reached the 90-90-90 target, outlined in a study by Karim published in The Lancet in March. But rates of infections in the country have barely changed.
The world’s worst affected country, South Africa, has pledged to increase efforts to end its HIV/AIDS epidemic. The nation is estimated to have at least 6.6 million HIV-infected people.
The new strategy - IAS Global Scientific Strategy: Towards an HIV Cure 2016 - was developed by a group of scientists and launched ahead of the 2016 AIDS Conference this weekend.
Related reading
HIV circus performer faces deportation
