Scientists worldwide are still unable to find a cure for HIV/AIDS, according to the latest report from a recently concluded Mexico AIDS conference. “There has been no breakthrough in terms of finding a cure for HIV/AIDS the world over,”Dr. Kihumuro Apuuli ,the Director General of Uganda AIDS Commission said at a Press briefing Thursday at the Uganda Media Centre. He was addressing members of the press on the outcome of the just concluded Mexico AIDS conference in Mexico City. “At the conference scientists showed that all ARVs are not able to break through the cells which keep the virus. To kill these viruses in the cells would require huge amounts of ARVs that would be toxic to the body and kill the human being taking the drugs,” Dr. Kihumuro explained. The 2008 Mexico Conference on HIV/AIDS focused on scaling up prevention, treatment, care and support based new scientific research evidence. “The conclusion, therefore, was that we are not able to treat ourselves out of the epidemic and we must quickly scale up prevention to deal with these new infections. We will not be able to sustain treatment,” the doctor said. He also revealed that scientists at the conference said that development of an AIDS Vaccine is still a great scientific challenge globally. According to the doctor, all trials on HIV vaccines have failed. He, however, added that new scientific evidence at the conference showed that there are human beings who are able to keep the virus away for so many years without getting infected despite getting exposed because they have the capacity to defend themselves against the virus. “Therefore, it is a logical conclusion for scientists that we can use these people to help protect the rest of the population. Though there are scientific challenges, there is hope in finding a vaccine,” Dr. Kihumuro added. According to the UNAIDS 2007 report ,every day, over 6800 persons become infected with HIV and over 5700 persons die from AIDS mostly because of inadequate access to HIV prevention and treatment services. Ends
