Breakthrough of HIV

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (otherwise known as HIV), is the cause of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). This disease is a common disease which up to date, has no cure. It is transmitted through means like sexual intercourse or even transfusion of infected blood. When down with AIDS, a person has a very weak immune system, meaning he gets sick easily and also experience symptoms like diarrhoea and flu-like symptoms. Currently, there are no specific cure to this disease yet, however, there have been some breakthroughs for this deadly disease.

A new drug, code named AK602, was discovered by Hiroaki Mitsuya, leader of the research team at Kumamoto University, at the International Congress on AIDS in Asia. This drug's main feature lies in the fact that it shuts out the AIDS virus at the point when it tries to intrude into a human cell. This drug stands out from the other AIDS medications as the other AIDS medications are not effective after a few days but AK602 reacts to human cells instead of fighting the virus. This drug works in a way where when it is attached to the protein which is the entrance into human cells for AIDS virus, HIV is prevented from entering. The professor said that there is almost no side effects and that it does not cover the whole protein but only closes the specific place where HIV enters, thus the other sections could still function for bodily operations. This drug is the latest breakthrough for HIV and was discovered in 2005.

Reflections:
I did the topic on HIV because firstly, I am currently learning the "surface" of this topic and would like to find out more about it since it is so deadly and there is no cure for it. Also, according to statistics, there are 16,000 new HIV cases everyday and five deaths caused by the virus every minute across the world, thus I see the importance and deadliness of this disease, and made me want to find out more about it. This article has definitely give people a new hope on the topic of HIV which seems to be almighty. Hopefully, this drug could be further developed to another drug which can totally cure AIDS, caused by HIV.