Through scientific research Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is gaining both setbacks and progression. According to New York Magazine, recent studies show that a number of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) patients who were diagnosed back in 2000 are still HIV infected, but luckily not yet AIDS infected. Their survival is because of all the drugs and medications, however patients are now facing another dilemma.
HIV patients who seem to live longer are growing older at a rapid rate rather than naturally. New York Magazine presents the story of James L. 46, who was diagnosed with HIV back in 2001. Over the years, he took multiple ‘drug cocktails' that were prescribed to him.
Eventually, James' life returned to normal; he went back to school and has a master's degree. At his current job, he was promoted to a six figure position at a telecommunications firm "and his personal life flourished."
In the past year, a number of doctors are becoming skeptical of their prescriptions due to James L's condition. It all started when he was at the movie theater watching the film Syrianna, but he soon recollected it was not his first viewing of the film. "He sat through about half the movie before he realized suddenly that he had seen the same movie two weeks earlier," Doctor David Simpson said.
"James ultimately pieced together evidence suggesting he'd seen the film on three spate occasions." Simpson explained, "It's an Alzheimer's-like state," which is now condemning all the little important commodities in James' life, especially the new position at his job.
Since the summer of 2009, a "large-scale multi-city study" shows that HIV patients who contracted only a few years back are all producing "cognitive impairment." Some are even having bone and organ failure, arthritis "and they suffer elevated rates of melanoma and kidney cancers seven times the rate of other non-HIV-related cancers."
In January, Weiwei Cao, M.D. and Ph.D., was evidently ahead of the game. According to The Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency, Dr. Cao conducted an experiment to determine simply "whether this premature aging of CD4 cells impacts HIV disease progression."
These are cells that everyone encompasses, HIV infected or not throughout life which tend to grow old as the person gets old. This process is called "Immunosenescence," and to analyze the issue further, Cao "examined the CD4 cell functioning of 20 HIV-positive people with rapid disease progression and 40 people with slow progression."
He discovered that HIV patients' CD4 cells happen to grow older quicker than a person without the disease. Just because an HIV-infected person's progression is slower than a rapid patients progression which eventually develops into AIDS, it is still not slower than normal.
Researchers found that the disease is trying all the possible ways to consume the HIV patients and rapidly turn them into AIDS patients by triggering symptoms of elderly people. This process seems to be occurring vastly due to the CD4 cells that are forcing the patients to grow older quicker than usual.
Although this study will disturb some HIV patients who are trying to hold back from becoming AIDS Patients, Cao believes this discovery may lead to better advancements for HIV patients. He states that the "call for studies exploring the removal of aging cells to make room for new cells and for a therapy that may rejuvenate aging cells" is now the new assignment for many researchers.
It is a process that appears to be simple, but at the same time requires a lot of research; this possibility of removing old aging cells could save the lives of many HIV patients. It will not completely eliminate the disease, but it will somehow sustain it from becoming AIDS without distributing as many medications.
If this idea works, it is possible for an HIV patient to consistently renew his or her old cells they can somehow renew their lives. There are endless possibilities and with the technology and advancement of our country's establishment we need to begin to have faith and try out all the prospects to help future generations to come and even others in less fortunate countries.
However, like Doctor Simpson said, "It seems like the virus keeps finding new tricks to throw at us, and we're just all left behind going, What's going on?" So let's thank all the prodigious scientists who are keeping up with the race.
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