Miami.— AIDS, a disease caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), is no longer necessarily fatal and it is expected that a vaccine that has been in the human testing phase for a couple of years will soon be authorized on the market, to its prevention. The goal, in the United States, is that by 2030 HIV not only ceases to be a fatal sentence, but is found at very low levels.
Even without the vaccine on the market, several battles have been won in the war against AIDS “thanks to scientific advances and global cooperation that have been carried out for decades,” says Jesús Vázquez Chabolla, PhD in Evolutionary Genetics and Biodiversity, to EL UNIVERSAL. “Today AIDS is described as a treatable chronic disease, that is, those who contract it can live almost normal and for many more years than at the beginning of the disease.”
Since 2021 in various countries, Moderna Pharmaceutical has been carrying out human trials with an HIV vaccine. “The results have been very encouraging,” says the specialist. In the United States, the first tests with the injection were carried out at George Washington University, involving 56 HIV-negative adults.
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Truvada is a medicine that is used in patients with AIDS. Photo: AP
But the tests have been done globally, with thousands of volunteers in various countries. “The great challenge to develop a vaccine against HIV is that the virus multiplies at a great speed and is mutating all the time” emphasizes doctor Vázquez Chabolla; “This virus is extremely deceptive,” he adds.
For those who have already developed AIDS there is also good news, since the treatments have had great advances and results.
Advances include antiretroviral therapies, known as TAP. They are now so advanced that it is enough to take a pill a day or a long-acting bi-monthly injection recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA, for its acronym in English).
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“True, we have had great successes in stopping HIV, but incredibly this has made many people trust or not care so much anymore and the cases [en Estados Unidos] They have increased a bit in recent years,” the infectologist Juan Carlos Lemos warns this newspaper. “They must not lower their guard and must be aware of the consequences that still prevail in the disease.”
“Anyone with an active sexual life is at risk of contracting AIDS,” insists Guillermo González, an HIV carrier, from Texas. “Fortunately, treatments have improved a lot in the last two decades, but that does not mean that we should lose respect for the disease.”
Battles have also been won on the prevention side, with up to 90% positive results following a treatment or pre-exposure prophylaxis, known as PrEP (for its acronym in English) and which consists of ingesting a daily pill or a bimonthly extended-release injection.
In the area of stem cells, there have been four successful cases in the last two decades, although its application in recipient patients, at the time, was not to attack HIV, but for patients with various types of cancer. These are cases from 2007, 2009, 2017 and 2020 in Germany, England and the United States. Three of them were from marrow stem cells, donated by compatible relatives; and that of 2017, the only woman, was a combination of umbilical cord with donated marrow stem cells.
“These are exceptional cases that turned out well, but we are still a long way from routinely curing HIV or any other disease by applying stem cells,” says Dr. Vázquez Chabolla. “There are four very lucky cases. There are also, and to a greater extent, those that did not turn out as expected”.
Early detection saves lives. “Here in the United States there are several programs with funds from the federal government to carry out rapid tests and early detection of people who need to start taking medicines immediately,” says the infectologist. “This attention will help us to reduce the cases again [de VIH] and to fight it until minimizing it to the maximum”.
The US government also supports the costs, “by putting several of our treatments and medicines under medical insurance. We must do everything in our power to eradicate HIV,” says González.
Guillermo González, an HIV carrier, warns that all people with an active sexual life are at risk of becoming infected. Photo: Guillermo Gonzalez
One of the great challenges when talking about the fight against AIDS is the cost of medicines and treatments. The PrEP pills, which are used both for prevention and to treat people infected with the virus, Truvada, have an average cost of 2,000 dollars (34,000 Mexican pesos), per pill for a month, that is, 24,000 dollars. per year (408 thousand pesos).
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The bimonthly injection (Apretude) has an average cost of 5,600 dollars (95,200 pesos) every two months. There is a generic version (SingleCare), for 3 thousand 500 dollars (59 thousand 500 pesos). To this must be added the HIV tests every three months, at an average cost of between 50 and 150 dollars (850 to 2,550 pesos). In all cases, US federal laws require health insurance to include most HIV drugs.
According to the World Health Organization and UNAIDS, during 2022 there were an average of 39 million human beings with HIV. Of these, 630,000 died that same year due to AIDS-related illnesses.
The good news and substantial progress is that, on average, 29.8 million people accessed antiretroviral therapy in 2022. Since the detection of HIV in 1980, an average of 85.6 million deaths have been recorded.
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2023-08-21 10:05:11
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