FM December 2020 digital P

ART &
LIVING WITH HIV
By introducing antiretroviral
therapy (ART) as well as
preventive methods like
pre-exposure prophylaxis
(PrEP) and post-exposure
prophylaxis (PEP), WHO
hopes to reduce global
burden of HIV/AIDS
2020
in cell-mediated immunity, occurring
in a person with no known cause for
diminished resistance to that disease.”
Even then, little progress was made on
the therapeutic front to manage the
disease until June 1983, when ‘Ward 86’
was isolated to include AIDS patients at
San Francisco General Hospital. Within
55 days, another ward, ‘Ward 5B’ was
opened in the same hospital, making it
the first dedicated in-patient AIDS ward
in the U.S. Within days, its
12 beds became fully occupied.
News spread all over America that a
new deadly disease is killing young
people, and President Ronald Reagan
couldn’t remain silent anymore. On 17
September 1983, he made a statement
about AIDS publicly for the first time,
21
28
million deaths
from AIDS
could be
averted
million new
HIV infections
could be
prevented
calling it ‘a top priority’ in health care.
HIV on the Stage
The search for the cause of the novel
disease could not attain pace due to
various reasons.
It was almost three years later
that the International Committee on
the Taxonomy of Viruses announced
that the virus leading to AIDS would
be officially known as ‘Human
Immunodeficiency Virus-HIV’. The real
scenario became apparent very soon,
with dossiers and reports claiming that
the human body can’t get rid of HIV
and no effective cure for HIV existed.
The virus attacks cells that help the
body to fight infection, making a person
more vulnerable to other infections and
diseases. It is spread by contact with
certain body fluids of a person with HIV,
most commonly during unprotected sex
or through sharing injection equipment.
If left untreated, HIV can lead to the
disease of AIDS. Once you happen
to have HIV, you have it for life. On 1
December 1988: World AIDS Day was
observed for the first time. The date
was designated by the World Health
Organization and supported by the
United Nations. The theme for the
observance was “Join the Worldwide
Effort”. But such efforts yielded few
benefits in the early days. By 1992, AIDS
became the number one cause of death
for US men aged between 25 to 44.
On 30 September 2015, The World
Health Organization introduced a
revised guideline recommending ART
or antiretroviral therapy should be
initiated in everyone living with HIV
at any CD4 cell count.. Through ART,
people with HIV can live long and
prevent transmitting HIV to their sexual
partners. In addition, there are effective
methods to prevent getting HIV through
sex or drug use, including pre-exposure
prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure
prophylaxis (PEP). WHO recommends
that daily oral PrEP can be an
additional prevention choice for those
at substantial risk for contracting HIV. It
has expressed a belief that through new
health policies and shared responsibility,
nations can avert more than 21 million
deaths and 28 million new infections by
2020. Several organizations are moving
towards the aim of developing the first
functional cure for the disease, one that
leaves people living with HIV healthy
and medication-free without necessarily
wiping the virus completely.
The Berlin Patient
AIDS research and antiretroviral therapy
has come a long way since the disease
was discovered in the 1980s. Ten
years ago, an HIV patient was cured
of the disease for the first time. The
‘Berlin patient’, as he was called, was
Timothy Ray Brown. He received a bone
marrow transplant from a donor who
was naturally resistant to HIV. However,
58 / FUTURE MEDICINE / December 2020