Slashdot Mirror
HIV Immunity Gene Found In Rhesus Monkeys
Stile 65 writes "According to the BBC, the National Institute for Medical Research has isolated a gene in rhesus monkeys that makes them immune to HIV. Amazingly, 'only a single change to the human [version of the] gene is needed to enable it to block HIV infection.' It's a very different approach to treating HIV infection from the potential vaccine developed in Brazil and described earlier on Slashdot."
... but it sounds from the article like the actual practicality of making that change is some way off. I quote:
it is important to stress that any therapeutic benefits that may arise from this research are unlikely to be felt for many years.
"This type of gene therapy would involve removing white blood cells from patients, cloning them, and altering their genetic make-up before reintroducing them to the patient on an individual-by-individual basis.
"Although it is theoretically possible, this approach is unlikely to be practical or cost-effective with currently available technologies."
It sounds to me like this would be a rather arduous process to go through, and given the scale of the epedemic that means, effectively, no major impact. The only effective solution is likely to be a cheap, easily admistered, relatively safe vaccine.
What would have an impact would be for religious leaders worldwide to withdraw their objections to birth control and actually promote condom use. Likewise better funding for medical facilities in overstressed third-world location would prevent infection via needle re-use, as would an educated approach to drug addiction, rather than simply pushing the issue underground.
there, three easy steps to minimise the spread, while the clever guys work on an actual therapy.
Screw you all! I'm off to the pub
Not to suggest that we shouldn't cure AIDS, but eliminating HIV as a threat might have some unintended consequences. Would infection rates for other STDs jump as people stopped worrying about condoms? I expect that any such cure will need to be accompanied by a major STD education campaign.
and soon we will all have the genetics that make us immune to all diseases known to man. Then, when a disease unknown to man arrives it can get us all at once, for genetic variation would be engineered out of us. BAD IDEA. Get us a vaccination, not gene modification.
There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.
The same way we got a treatment for not being able to get an erection: make sure it affects a lot of rich, white, American men. We'll have a cure in no time!
I joke, but many a true hath been spoke in jest.
.\.\att Clare