There’s No HIV Cure Yet, But With Each Promising Case, Scientists Become More Hopeful
There have been a few unique cases recently that have offered movement forward toward an eventual cure.
KQED:
Frontiers Of HIV Research: The Man Who Was Nearly Cured
Now, two more patients — with the first names Luis and Clark, no less — may find themselves at least footnotes in the narrative of HIV’s trajectory from pandemic to cure, should the latter be achieved. The cases of Clark Hawley, 54, and Luis Canales, 31, have provided at least a temporary answer to a big question: Can very early treatment after exposure to HIV lead to complete eradication of the virus – an actual cure? (d'Adesky, 12/12)
In other public health news —
Los Angeles Times:
Is 'Man Flu' Real? Medical Science Delivers Comfort To Helpless Male Snufflers
We've all seen him: The man who strides boldly into high-stakes negotiations, risks serious injury to win a pickup basketball game and fearlessly confronts things that go bump in the night, yet is brought low by a tiny virus. He snivels pitiably, wallows in his misery and tests the most forbearing caregiver with his abject helplessness. The diagnosis often comes with a roll of the eyes. It’s “man flu,” an infectious disease that renders healthy males utterly incapable of self-care. (Healy, 12/12)
KQED:
Just Because You Have A ‘Mild’ Concussion Doesn’t Mean You’re OK
Each year, about 2.5 million people in the United States are admitted to emergency rooms with traumatic brain injuries, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The difficulties of studying concussions, with their vague symptoms and hidden physical damage, have turned brain injury into a “silent epidemic,” in the words of Pratik Mukherjee, a neuroradiologist at UCSF. (Vassey, 12/12)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Life-Shortening Blood Disease Gets Rush Of Research
More than 50 years after the cause of sickle-cell disease was discovered, a dozen treatments for the painful and life-shortening inherited condition offer hope for long-overlooked patients. ...Bluebird Bio Inc. hopes to cure patients with a single injection of its gene therapy one day. (Cortez, 12/12)