Why it’s so hard to cure HIV/AIDS - Janet Iwasa
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In 2008, something incredible happened: a man was cured of HIV. In over 70 million HIV cases, this was a first, and, so far, a last, and we don’t yet understand exactly how he was cured. But if we can cure people of various diseases, like malaria and hepatitis C, why can’t we cure HIV? Janet Iwasa examines the specific traits of the HIV virus that make it so difficult to cure.
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- Educator Janet Iwasa
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A common misconception about HIV is that it’s no longer that much of a risk now that we have drugs that can keep the virus in check. The reality is that the rate of new HIV infections in the US has remained stable at around 50,000 new infections per year (and around 2,000,000 per year globally). It is estimated that one in seven people infected with HIV in the US are not aware of their HIV+ status. What are other misconceptions about HIV? How can we better quell these misconceptions?
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Roman Salcedo
Lesson completed
I think HIV can be hard to diagnose when nobody knows when they get it, especially since people can't keep track of when or why they would get it.
Ben Bailey
Lesson in progress
I think that if this drug keeps developing then HIV could be a thing of the past
Joseph Miranda
Lesson completed
Drugs cant just fix your whole immune system.
sarah jaques
Lesson in progress
A person with HIV is considered to have developed AIDS when their immune system is so weak it can no longer fight off certain opportunistic infections and diseases, such as pneumonia, meningitis and some cancers. One of the most common opportunistic infections among people living with HIV/AIDS is tuberculosis. Since its discovery in 1981, HIV/AIDS has killed more than 25 million people. According to the World Health Organisation, there are more than 34 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, the majority of them in sub-Saharan Africa.The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is transmitted through blood and body fluids and gradually breaks down the immune system usually over a three-to-15-year period leading to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS.A person living with HIV is considered to have developed AIDS when their immune system is so weak it can no longer fight off certain opportunistic infections and diseases, such as pneumonia, meningitis and some cancers. The
Lucrezia Lancellotti
Lesson completed
I think that to avoid those misconceptions we should understand the syntoms so that we are aware that me have contracted the virus and we can cure it with drugs, so that if people are educated about this disease they can constantly get drugs everyday to avoid the spreading.
Reeves Tsang
Lesson completed
People nowadays are still stuck in the mind of AIDS=dead. I think people need to educate the next generation that AIDS is a disease, but not a deadly disease. Also, blood check right after unprotected sex is not the right thing to do, you should wait 3 to 6 months
Griffin Lang
Lesson completed
Another misconception is that we can cure everyone that had HIV but we don't know that for a fact because there is a chance that there will be a different type of HIV that is stronger and won't be curable. We can better understand theses misconceptions by reaerching more experiments that are happening.
Sean Jj
Sean Jj
Lesson completed
I think there are alot of misconceptions of HIV in the world, mostly that people think that this is a problem mainly in third world countires. This is true, but they forget the fact that HIV can be in countries that have all neccecities. The U.S is one of the top countries with HIV infections.
Angel Chen
Vancouver, Canada
Lesson completed
Many people (including my parents) think that HIV can spread through saliva, and I have read otherwise. Is this true? Can HIV spread through food or from toilet seats? We must educate people, this is one of the only ways a virus can be controlled. When people are educated and informed they will make better decisions in life leading to safer actions.
Travis MacPhail
Travis MacPhail
Lesson completed
If a person has HIV, everyone tends to stay away in fear that they would also get the virus. This is not the case because many of the infected people are on medication that prevents it from spreading. In the case of Ervin "Magic" Johnson, after he broke the news of his infection, everyone in the NBA was scared to play against him in fear that they would get infected just by touching him. After people became better educated, they realized the virus could not be spread just physical contact and were able to play against him again. If all people were better educated about HIV people would be less afraid.
