An end to the AIDS epidemic? Study provides new reason for hope
Seattle – A new scientific study states that there may soon be an end to the AIDS epidemic. The study says that the AIDS virus could be eradicated in the next ten years. The way to accomplish this goal is to have regular testing and treatment in countries where there is a high rate of AIDS cases.
The man who headed this scientific study is named Charlie Gilks. He is an AIDS expert at the World Health Organization.
The study used information from Malawi and South Africa. These two countries have high AIDS infection rates. The residents of these countries were tested every year and if they were found to have HIV then they were given the proper medications to treat the virus.
Within a decade, the number of HIV infections dropped by ninety five percent. This would cut the number of AIDS deaths between 2008 and 2050 from 8.7 million people to 3.9 million people. This would be about a fifty percent reduction in AIDS deaths over forty two years.
However, there are problems with this idea. If a person tests positive for AIDS then they will have to immediately take the proper medications to treat the disease so that they do not get sicker or transmit the disease to other people. The medications can make HIV patients sick because they have side effects. The medications need to be taken continuously in order to have the proper medical effects.
If a person is diagnosed with HIV sooner and does take the medications that are needed and they do not work then they do not have many other treatment alternatives available to them. There are approximately three million people in the world who are currently taking AIDS medications. Approximately seven million people need the medications but have yet to be able to receive the necessary treatment. More than three million people were diagnosed with AIDS last year.
The cost of carrying out the strategy of testing people every year and immediately putting them on HIV medications would cost 3.4 billion dollars. The expenses would decrease as time goes on. It costs between six hundred thousand and 1.2 million dollars to treat an AIDS patient over the course of their lifetime.
Approximately ninety seven thousand New Yorkers have HIV and of those people, sixty one thousand have AIDS.
This is a good investment in the health of people worldwide. AIDS is a terrible virus that needs to be eradicated. It is always fatal because you can only live with AIDS so long. Many people can live a very long time if they take the right medications to treat the virus.
Early detection and prevention is the key. People all across the world need to be tested for HIV. If they are found to be HIV positive then they need to seek the right medical treatment. You can help to prevent HIV by not having unprotected intercourse and not sharing needles with anyone. Hopefully, AIDS will be eradicated in the next decade. It is a terrible virus that has taken many lives.
that is a good idea i dont no why someone didnt think of that earlier i no that one day there will be a cure for this monster; and i also think that docters should use a difernt aproch to treatmet;besides hart’;