NIH Radio
AIDS 2012 opening plenary on ending the HIV/AIDS pandemic
Brief Description:
NIH leader discusses how science is helping end the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Transcript:
Balintfy: Globally, more than 34 million people are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. In the United States there are more than 1.1 million people infected. Nearly half of HIV-infected people living in low- and middle-income countries who are eligible for therapy still, are not receiving needed antiretrovirals. Only a fraction of the people infected with HIV worldwide, including those living in wealthy countries, can effectively navigate the HIV care process from testing to successful treatment. Yet, Dr. Anthony Fauci at the NIH says, ending the pandemic is possible.
Fauci: We want to get to the end of AIDS. That will only occur with some fundamental foundations. And these foundations are the basic and clinical research which will give us the tools which will ultimately lead to interventions and then ultimately these will need to be implemented, together with studies with how best to implement them.
Balintfy: Dr. Fauci, delivering remarks at the XIX International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C., says science, in particular advances in basic and clinical research, has made the achievement of an AIDS-free generation a real opportunity.
Fauci: Probably the most important of the culmination of scientific advances is understanding the HIV replication cycle from the binding fusion, insertion of its RNA, reverse transcription, integration and then viral budding, because each of that, year after year, has given us targets of vulnerability on the part of the virus. And it’s that kind of basic science which brings us to the next step. And that is the step of interventions, predominantly in the arena of treatment and prevention
Balintfy: Dr. Fauci points out that there is a robust arsenal of antiretroviral drugs and scientifically proven interventions now available to treat and prevent HIV infection.
Fauci: We have now up to 30 anti-HIV approved drugs by the FDA, multiple classes used in combinations that have completely transformed things, but we can't stop there, because there are still those who are not responding to these drugs and we still need long acting drugs, particularly with regard to adherence.
Balintfy: To improve treatment adherence, researchers are working to develop longer-acting antiretrovirals that could be given monthly or even less frequently, such as by injection or topically in vaginal rings. These and other significant scientific challenges remain in HIV research — notably, developing a vaccine and a cure. Dr. Fauci emphasizes that things have changed significantly since 30 years ago.
Fauci: The median survival of my patients was six to eight months - 50% dead within six to eight months - now, if a person walks into our clinic at the NIH, or any other place that has availability of treatment, is young, 25, has been recently infected, you put them on combination therapy and you can look them in the eye and tell them that it is likely that if they adhere to that regimen, that they will live an additional 50 years.
Balintfy: Dr. Fauci notes another positive step in the battle against HIV.
Fauci: Prevention of mother-to-child transmission. The breakthrough study of 076 indicating that by treating the mother, you can actually decrease dramatically, now we treat mothers for their disease, and then secondarily, together with the mother's health, the baby is born uninfected and can be breast fed.
Balintfy: Other proven HIV prevention methods include voluntary medical male circumcision, which was shown in clinical trials in Kenya and Uganda to reduce a heterosexual man's risk of acquiring HIV by 50 to 60 percent — an effect that increases over time.
Fauci: Probably the most game-changing advance over the last couple of years has been treatment as prevention with the now very famous HPTN052 trial which reduced by 96% the likelihood that someone will transmit to their uninfected partner if you treat early, a great argument for getting people on treatment.
Balintfy: Dr. Fauci says ending the HIV/AIDS pandemic is an enormous, multifaceted challenge, but it can be done. It will require continued basic and clinical research, and the development and testing of additional treatment and HIV prevention interventions and, implementing these interventions on a much wider scale. For more information on HIV/AIDS research, and news from the AIDS 2012 conference, visit www.niaid.nih.gov. For NIH Radio, this is Joe Balintfy – NIH . . . Turning Discovery Into Health.
About This Audio Report
Date: 7/24/2012
Reporter: Joe Balintfy
Sound Bite: Dr. Anthony Fauci
Topic: AIDS, HIV, HIV/AIDS, virus, infection, infected, antiretrovirals, treatment, prevention
Institute(s):
NIAID
Additional Info:
At AIDS 2012, Fauci delivers opening plenary on ending the HIV/AIDS pandemic
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