HIV/AIDS

August 15, 2008, 3:09 am

Hang on in there Chico ... It does get better, IT will get better, It just has too  

August 15, 2008, 3:07 am

Hang on in there Chico ... It does get better, IT will get better, It just has too  

August 15, 2008, 3:07 am

Hang on in there Chico ... It does get better, IT will get better, It just has too  

August 15, 2008, 3:06 am

Hang on in there Chico ... It does get better, IT will get better, It just has too  

August 14, 2008, 2:23 pm

in the light of a new dawn, a new day, everything looks a little bit better.

big hug, chico. hang in and hang on,

circledmoon

August 14, 2008, 1:28 pm

Dude I hear you, From time to time it seems that if this is all life is gonna be then WTF? But something does come up, or happens to pull us through when we are down. I hoe that something happens for you today. Peace brother and hang in there. Your friend Scott

August 14, 2008, 12:30 pm

Hi Chico,

I think we all go threw  that, I too am feeling such tension that I cant get to sleep.  its crazy. Tho things are so so here, the tension  just builds and Im begining to think it has to do with our drugs. It puts us in a whole different mind set of how we feel about ourselfs and how things really are.  and I dont like it one dam  bit!  did you see what was posted here ?  ill post it to you in case you didnt see it. it gave me a  sense of hope and a  little bit of light came threw the crack of the dreary doom.  check this out, I hope  this is what we all need....

Houston Doctors Say They May Have Found a Way to Destroy HIV

Wednesday 30 July 2008

»

by: Lee McGuire, KVUE News Houston

A graph showing global HIV infections, released by UNAIDS on July 28, 2008. (Reuters / UNAIDS)

Houston - There is real hope that what's happening in a Houston lab might lead to a cure for HIV.

"We have found an innovative way to kill the virus by finding this small region of HIV that is unchangeable," Dr. Sudhir Paul of the University of Texas Medical School at Houston said.

Dr. Paul and Dr. Miguel Escobar aren't talking about just suppressing HIV - they're talking about destroying it permanently by arming the immune system with a new weapon lab tests have shown to be effective.

Ford Stuart has been HIV positive for 15 years. He's on a powerful drug cocktail that keeps the disease in check.

"I'm on four different medications. Three of them are brand new, and it's the first time that I've ever been non-detectible," Stuart said. "I'm down to about - just for the HIV - about nine pills per day, five in the morning and four at night."

But Stuart knows HIV mutates, and eventually it will learn how to outsmart his medications.

"The virus is truly complex and has many tricks up its sleeve," Paul said.

But Dr. Paul thinks he's cracked a code.

"We've discovered the weak spot of HIV," he said.

Paul and his team have zeroed in on a section of a key protein in HIV's structure that does not mutate.

"The virus needs at least one constant region, and that is the essence of calling it the Achilles heel," Paul said.

That Achilles heel is the doctors' way in. They take advantage of it with something called an abzyme.

It's naturally produced by people, like lupus patients. When they applied that abzyme to the HIV virus, it permanently disarmed it.

"What we already have in our hand are the abzymes that we could be infusing into the human subjects with HIV infection, essentially to move the virus," Paul said.

Basically, their idea could be used to control the disease for people who already have it and prevent infection for those at risk.

The theory has held up in lab and animal testing. The next step is human trials.

Meanwhile, every day in Houston, three people are diagnosed with HIV.

The doctors still need funding to launch human trials. In the world of HIV research, that's often where things fall apart.

"Clinical trials are very expensive," Paul said.

"That is the worry of the researcher. This is what nightmares are made of - that after 30 years of work, you find it doesn't work," Paul said.

But so far, it is working.

"This is the holy grail of HIV research, to develop a preventative vaccine," Paul said.

"If we can get the viral loads down to a manageable level, that will preclude the need for these conventional drugs," Escobar said.

Still, even if everything goes well, it's at least five years before the research could help people with HIV.

The doctors know people like Ford Stuart are waiting.

"There are so many people struggling with the disease because it affects not only your body, but also your psyche, how you perceive yourself," he said.

If nothing else, the research is promising for the tens of millions waiting for a cure.

 Take care and I hope  you see in a different light  soon..  hugs Vickie

August 13, 2008, 11:51 pm

Yes i go through what you are feeling all the time but i force myself to go on,i know i must live for my family and loved ones ,some days i just why? but i'm still here  things will get better just keep going..love steph