The Long Journey to A Cure
For many people, December 1st is the beginning of the countdown until Christmas. But December 1st holds a more significant meaning; December 1st is World AIDS Awareness Day. Those suffering from AIDS or those who have lost someone close to them to the disease embrace this day as a time to remember the past and remind others that there is still work to be done through scientific research to provide a cure.
Although there is not a cure for AIDS right now, the long road to discovering life-saving medication began in the 1980s. The first drug that helped combat the HIV/AIDS virus was AZT (Zidovudine). The FDA approved the drug in 1989 and it was distributed by pharmaceutical companies in hopes to help HIV positive people and AIDS patients. Over the years, AZT has shown to have treated HIV infection and prevent an HIV positive mother from passing the virus off to her baby during childbirth. However, AZT is not a cure; it can only slow the progression of HIV or AIDS.
AZT became a widely used drug among HIV/AIDS patients, but other treatments were used by the FDA to fight the virus. Throughout the 1980s, a slew of intravenous and syrup medications were used to prevent AIDS. Some of the medications used were: Intron A and Roferon A (Human Interferon Alpha Injection) for the treatment of Kaposi's Sarcoma, a cancer resulting from HIV; Cytovene (ganciclovir) infusion for use in the treatment of Cytomegalovirus retinitis infections in persons with AIDS; and Dideoxyinosine (DDL) under a treatment IND protocol for the treatment of patients with AIDS or AIDS Related Complex who were allergic or intolerant to AZT.
In addition to providing treatments, the FDA tried to create a vaccine that would prevent HIV, as well as create diagnostic kits that would help detect antigens and proteins of the virus. By the 1990s, the FDA had approved the use of another series of medications such as Diflucan (Fluconazole), Retrovir (Zidovudine, AZT), and Epogen Erythropoietin, EPO). All the medications continue to be used to some extent today, but there is still no cure for people living with HIV/AIDS.
Millions of people have died from AIDS over the past 30 years. Luckily, we know more about the virus now than we knew when it was first discovered in 1983, which has helped reduce the number of people infected each year. It is now 2017 and scientists are getting closer to finding a cure, but all we can do is wait.
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