HIV and AIDS

An epidemic that's been sustained for 44 years might finally be quelled, with the milestone approval of the first HIV drug that offers 100% protection with its twice-yearly injections. It's a landmark achievement set to save millions of lives.

Researchers at MIT have developed a way to 'supercharge' vaccines to the extent that just a single dose can provide strong protection from HIV. This approach could also help formulate protein-based vaccines to protect against influenza and SARS-CoV-2

HIV has become a more manageable condition in recent years, but a full cure remains elusive. Now, scientists have found promise in permanently eliminating the virus, thanks to a drug already approved by the FDA to fight cancer.

A 53-year-old from Düsseldorf in Germany has followed the "Berlin" and "London" patients, becoming the third person in the world to be completely cured of HIV following a stem cell transplant using donor cells with a particular genetic mutation.

In a blow to researchers across the world, the only HIV vaccine currently in Phase 3 human trials has been deemed a failure. The experimental vaccine's failure turns the current research focus onto several other candidates only in early-stage human trials.

A 66-year-old man has become the fourth patient, and the oldest to date, to be effectively cured of a HIV infection after undergoing a stem cell transplant from a donor with a rare genetic mutation that has been linked to HIV resistance.

Researchers have discovered a novel highly virulent strain of HIV in the Netherlands. The evolution of the variant, which originally emerged over two decades ago, demonstrates how viruses don’t necessarily evolve to become less severe.

HIV is hard to kill as it hides out in cellular reservoirs, but a growing body of work shows that a cure might be possible. In a new study, improvements to a previous “kick and kill” technique completely cleared HIV in 40 percent of treated mice.

HIV can currently be managed with a lifelong daily drug regimen, but unfortunately the infection can’t be eliminated entirely. Now researchers may have found a way to trip a cellular “alarm” to alert the immune system to clear out infected cells.

In lab tests, researchers have identified a cellular “switch” that could be turned off to clear out HIV lying dormant inside cells.

Scientists report the “functional cure” of an HIV patient for only the second time ever. Known only as “the London patient”, the man received a transplant of bone marrow stem cells from a donor that had a resistance to the virus. The patient has now been in remission for 18 months.

Developing a HIV vaccine has been frustrating scientists for decades due the ability of the virus to rapidly mutate. A team of researchers is now the closest they've ever been to producing a successful vaccine, with an experimental drug moving to a large-scale human trial in Southern Africa.