Monkeys Respond To HIV Treatment

US based researchers are reported to identified two drugs meant for treating HIV patients also served to protect monkeys from contracting the AIDS virus. As to whether the same can be applied to human beings also has not yet been confirmed, even though it may be possible.

Rhesus monkeys were experimented upon by the Centers for Disease and Prevention's Dr. Walid Heneine, through injecting them with a version of the Truvada, manufactured by Gilead Sciences. This pill is a combination of Emtriva, or emtracitibine and Viread, or tenofovir. The combination has not yet cured a human being from the HIV infection, even though it helps in maintaining the existing state of health. After the injection, the monkeys were exposed continuously for 14 days to SHIV, a human-monkey AIDS virus.

Injections were also administered on a daily basis to the six experimental animals. None of the animals contracted the AIDS virus. There is a possibility that potent antiretrovirals administered before being exposed to HIV may protect a human being from AIDS, according to the results of the experiment, even though this may only be for a temporary period. The HIV virus is reported to be wrecking devastation among developing nations.

The US President has however recommended abstinence as the best way of stopping the disease, while those in the medical field have called for more practical methods to halt the spread of the disease. Even among the HIV virus, the A clade variety is reported to be less deadly than the D type, which brought about death more rapidly. There are a total 40 million people in this world who are HIV positive, and the developing world, particularly Africa accounts for most of this.