Is There a Cure for AIDS?

 Presently AIDS still has no cure. Yet the battle against it now spans for over 25 years.

 Problems

 Although new drugs are helping many HIV carriers to live longer, healthier lives, they have many problems, as follows:

 • Anti HIV drugs are highly toxic and are capable of causing serious side effects, such ad heart damage, kidney failure and osteoporosis.

 • HIV mutates rapidly. This makes the virus develop resistance to existing drugs thereby causing failure. Already 10% to 20% of newly infected Americans are acquiring strains of the virus which may be resistant to existing drugs.

 • For reasons of treatment regimens (fixed plan of food, sleep, etc. To improve a patient's health), many HIV patients miss doses of their medication. This irregularity in taking anti HIV drugs and in the correct prescribed dosage creates chances for the development of new strains of the virus that will be drug resistant.

 • Even when patients diligently take their drugs on schedule and in the prescribed dosage, HIV is still not eradicated by HAART (High Active Anti Retroviral Therapy).

    In developed countries such as USA, the significant effect of these potent treatments is the dramatic reduction in the number of deaths caused by AIDS, because the drugs are widely available a and affordable there. Conversely, in developing countries such as Nigeria, many patients have little or no access to treatment, resulting to increased number of AIDS caused deaths. It is estimated that over 95% of all people with HIV AIDS live in developing countries worldwide.

 Foreign agents like invading micro organisms, which cause lymphocytes to produce antibodies are known as antigens. Each antigen, e.g a measle virus, can only be destroyed by its specific antibody, e.g a measles antibody. Lymphocytes can recognise an antigen that has previously invaded the body and so can make antibodies very quickly before the antigen is a viable to multiply and cause the disease. We can protect ourselves from certain serious disease artificially by causing lymphocytes in the body to recognise these antigens. This is done by injecting small dose of the weakened or dead micro organisms into the body. Such protective methods are known as artificial immunization and vaccinations.

 Clotting : Blood clots when its exposed to air. This property prevents loss of blood. It also seals up cuts and wounds, thus preventing harmful micro organisms from entering the body through them.

    The clotting mechanism is very complicated. Briefly, when blood is exposed to air, the platelets break up and release thromboplastin, an enzyme. In the presence of calcium ions, thromboplastin converts a plasma protein prothrombin to the enzyme thrombin. Thrombin causes another soluble plasma protein, fibrinogen, to change to insoluble threads of fibrin. The fibrin threads entangle the blood cells and the whole mass forms a clot that seals the cut