News for HIV patients: “We don’t have a vaccine yet, but we are trying to develop treatments”

Dr.

There are some new developments in infectious diseases and for example he said on the Radio that “it seems that studies are being done regarding HIV. The possibility of combining neutralizing monoclonal antibodies with antiretrovirals, which are not given daily, has been investigated.

Usually, what is now used in these patients, are “daily tablets to reduce the viral load to what we call undetectable values, that is, to a very small value that find the tools we have in our country, if not. 20 copies of the virus. What is being done in these studies, which is very important, is the link in terms of neutralizing antibodies, because our immune system generates the presence of antibodies against any disease, and in HIV it is the -chance it produces just a little. percentage of neutralizing antibodies, which is why it is not definitively and completely neutralized, because it always changes with each multiplication, so the immune system must create antibodies for each of its mutations right now.

What is being done is genetically recombinant antibodies, “to try to neutralize specific sites of the virus and prevent it from multiplying. It is a big challenge because antibodies are associated with these new antivirals that are usually given every two months subcutaneously and not orally,” said the professional.

Sometimes what worries the patient is that it is a medication that they have to take every day and it has a negative effect, “in fact a normal life can be having them, there is no physical stigma, like 30 years ago. They have access to these new retrovirals that are given every two months in the form of an injection, but it costs a little for social works to cover them because they have the same benefit as the way orally with a more expensive price, at least for now. “

In addition to the news, after more than four decades the presence of this virus in the world is still a great challenge, because it is a pandemic, “we still do not have a vaccine, but we will trying to improve the treatments, because that is small. “The virus generates chronic inflammation, so a lot of work is being done on that.”

Regarding the stigma and stereotype towards people with HIV, Dr. Firpo said “It is still a great debt that we have as a society, because a critical view is given to the patient who has the this disease. In fact, that is why it is not usually told and they ask us in the office not to let it come to light. There are couples whose children do not know that they have HIV and vice versa, there is actually a lot of stigma and that is closely related to a lack of information. There is no doubt that this happens because we don’t know about the fallout paths. “