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mancapturescolour t1_j5xn7bv wrote

Reply to comment by FelisCantabrigiensis in What determines whether we can create a vaccine for an illness or not? by ShelfordPrefect

> Fortunately, we have very effective treatments to suppress it and we can, if we deploy these widely enough, expect to suppress it out of transmission in the foreseeable future. HIV isn't very easy to transmit so if you suppress it in the people who have it, it should die out when the oldest person with HIV dies of other causes, after spending their life with suppressed HIV.

Yes, it's effective and cheaper than ever.

> If properly adhered to, ARV treatment, which costs as little as 20 cents a day, not only keeps an HIV-positive person alive and healthy, but also reduces the risk of transmission.
Source: https://www.red.org/our-impact-areas/#testing-and-treatment

Now the game-changer in all this, for me, is that supressing HIV during pregnancy prevents mother-to-child transmission of the virus. That means a child to a HIV+ parent can be HIV free at birth! So, we don't have to wait for HIV to die out with old age, there are people already born HIV- thanks to these drugs. The United States have made a significant impact through PEPFAR in the last 20 years (this Saturday!) but we rarely hear about that success story.

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[deleted] t1_j5yq4tt wrote

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mancapturescolour t1_j5z0ck9 wrote

Thank you, that is very important to point out. I appreciate your insights, it's so valuable to share.

It's a multifaceted issue and what you state, adherence, is a key point indeed: Undetectable = Untransmittable aka (U=U). For that to happen people that need these ARVs must have access, and be comfortable to take them regularly for a long time.

We're not there yet but I believe we will have the means to turn this epidemic around completely. Whether by vaccines, replacing stigma by normalization of what life with HIV is today, or arriving at an HIV free generation...as long as there's a will, there's a way. Just the idea that you can lead a "healthy" and normal life with HIV today is so mind-blowing compared to how it was only a few decades ago.

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