Man cured of aids.

[Stalk3rchief]

For the long-time mebers of the Escapist, you may have already seen this. Some new developments have come to my mind and I want to spread the word about this type of thing. Because no matter how you look at it this is a HUGE deal and the fact that most Americans are ignorant about it has been annoying me to no end.
No matter who I bring it up with, young or old, idiot or intellect, they are either skeptical or surprised.

Here is a part of one of the many articles on this:

Last month, German doctors reported that they had cured a 42-year-old of acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS. The patient, an American living in Berlin, also had leukemia, which is best treated by a bone marrow transplant. Thinking they might be able to cure the man of both diseases, the physicians gave him a bone marrow transplant from a person with natural immunity to HIV. The patient has now lived for 20 months since the transplant without any detectable traces of HIV.

To establish similar immunity in HIV patients, the UC Davis team manipulated human skin cells to give these cells many of the same properties as stem cells. These transformed cells, called induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells, are capable of differentiating into, among other cell types, hematopoietic stem cells, which are normally found in bone marrow and are responsible for producing the various types of immune cells.

"If we can replace normal immune cells with HIV-resistant ones, we can cure AIDS," Bauer said.

Bauer and stem cell program research associate Joseph Anderson have developed several anti-HIV genes that they plan to insert into IPS cells using standard gene-therapy techniques and viral vectors (viruses that efficiently insert the genes they carry into host cells). These engineered IPS cells could then be differentiated into bone marrow stem cells and introduced into the patient using a procedure similar to a bone marrow transplant.

The entire article can be found here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/132116.php
Or you could just google it.

There is also this video:

Spoiler

So my question to you is this: Were you aware of this?
If you are in a different country, do you* have any insight on this that us in America may not know?
Although this isn't an actual distributable cure, do you think this is a major step for the health and wellbeing of the people?
Discus.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

Nope never heard of this before.

And I'd say this is a massive step... if stem cells are allowed to be more widely researched and used then this could become a widespread cure.

 

[Free Thinker]

So what you're suggesting is that we find these people with natural immunities, clone them, and harvest them like the robots harvested humans in the Matrix? Brilliant! For SCIENCE!
OT: We should probably find these people with natural immunities and look for a specific gene and continue on from there. Bravo Germany for curing what we thought unable to cure for quite a few years.

 

[eggy32]

If it's true, that's pretty cool. I don't think it'll help as many people as it should do though. I predict that if this cure becomes well known public information then lots more people are going to have unprotected sex and expect to be cured the next day. It'll result in too many victims and not enough spare bone marrow/doctors to help them, thus increasing the number of AIDS victims.

That's one possibility, anyway.

EDIT: Actually, now that I've watched that video, this whole thing seems rather pointless if it has such a high mortality rate. I'll leave that other paragraph there as it still shows my view on what would happen if an AIDS cure were found.

 

[Dr.Poisonfreak]

This is absolutely amazing , i mean if we can cure aids, then how long before cancer ?

 

[The Procrastinated End]

Yay for German doctors, but no I haven't heard of this.

 

[Stalk3rchief]

This is absolutely amazing , i mean if we can cure aids, then how long before cancer ?

Since my mother died of cancer a few years ago, I've entertained this same idea. =D
If all goes well, I think we're making steps in the right direction.

 

[rokkolpo]

Nope never heard of this before.

And I'd say this is a massive step... if stem cells are allowed to be more widely researched and used then this could become a widespread cure.

it's an ethic war above all else.
won't happen fast.

 

[PxDn Ninja]

This is cool, but I'm curious (and I didn't read any more than what was in the first post), but is the man completely rid of AIDS, or is he just not afflicted with it anymore, but it is dormant in him.

I ask, because some illnesses we get and can get over, but have for ever (we just no longer suffer their effects). If this doesn't destroy the HIV virus in his body, then he could still spread the illness without suffering its effects.

 

[crazybombard]

That's effing awesome, and no I wasn't aware of this till now.

 

[Dr.Poisonfreak]

This is absolutely amazing , i mean if we can cure aids, then how long before cancer ?

Since my mother died of cancer a few years ago, I've entertained this same idea. =D
If all goes well, I think we're making steps in the right direction.

Sorry for your loss dude

 

[BlumiereBleck]

It's about time we start focusing on a disease that can be cured

 

[The Austin]

I don't think you can be immune to HIV.

I hope it's true, though.

 

[Milo Windby]

It pains me to say this, but I have not heard of this... though now I can say I have thanks to you.

Sounds awesome and I hope it leads to a direction that will helps others as well.

 

[Megacherv]

I read this ages ago, but the problem is that it's not that large a step in mecical science, as the requirements to be cured are so precise.

 

[Stalk3rchief]

This is cool, but I'm curious (and I didn't read any more than what was in the first post), but is the man completely rid of AIDS, or is he just not afflicted with it anymore, but it is dormant in him.

I ask, because some illnesses we get and can get over, but have for ever (we just no longer suffer their effects). If this doesn't destroy the HIV virus in his body, then he could still spread the illness without suffering its effects.

You know I'm actually not sure. I believe they say that there is no sign of HIV in his blood at all, but I could be mistaken and he might be some kind of immune carrier now.

My real concern is that this will be like the cure for cancer in I Am Legend and that this will spawn the zombie apocolypse.