HIV Cure and News Update 2014—New Infections and “Mississippi Baby”
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As another viral epidemic has taken charge of the headlines worldwide, on the domestic front news once again has surfaced regarding issues in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
Currently the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that over 35 million individuals worldwide are infected with the retrovirus HIV. Bound to their cellular DNA, and resurfacing once the hosts' immune system is weakened, the virus can quickly escalate to AIDS and ultimately death as the individual's immune system is rendered defenseless.
In the Limelight Of the Film Industry
News this morning from Los Angeles reports that yet again, only a year after three infections were discovered in performers both in heterosexual and homosexual filming, the adult film industry in Los Angeles has issued yet another moratorium ceasing all filming because of the discovery of an HIV positive actor.
"We take the health of our performers very seriously and felt that it was better to err on the side of caution while we determine whether anyone else may have been exposed" Freedom of Speech Coalition spokesperson Diane Duke said in a press release this morning.
Last year, when actress Cameron Bay tested positive, both ends of the pornographic industry were put on hold as two other males, including Bay's gay pornstar boyfriend Rod Daily, revealed that they too had tested positive and failed to report the prognosis to the industry. The moratorium ended last September when industry executives required that performers be tested for STIs and HIV every 14 days as opposed to the previous 28 days in between tests. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation calls the news of yet another infection a "tragic" repeat of last year's events and highlighted the need for larger action to take place requiring all performers to use condoms-something the foundation successfully fought for in Los Angeles last year, plummeting film making in the county from 485 annually to 40.
Reinfected Baby Sends HIV 'Cure' Back to the Drawing Board
Last month, hope of an HIV cure was stifled as a child believed to have been cured of the virus once again tested positive. The "Mississippi Baby", as the child was nicknamed, is currently two years old and was born with the HIV infection from his mother. After a series of combination Antiretroviral Therapies (ART), the infant showed no detectable sign of viral replication in the blood. However, last month in a routine check-up the child was discovered to have reduced T Cells that are immune system components targeted by the virus, a sign that the child was again infected with active HIV.
Publishing a commentary on the news, researchers Dr. Robert and Janet Siliciano from Johns Hopkins University, say that these set back are "not the end of the story, but the beginning of a new chapter." Insisting that such failures and set backs are simply a way of bringing us closer to finding a cure for HIV, the researchers are not disheartened at the reinfection, and are motivated that the 18 month remission may be a step in the right direction.
