September 4th, 2009
According to the journal Science via the Los Angeles Times:
After nearly two decades of futile searching for a vaccine against the AIDS virus, researchers are reporting the tantalizing discovery of antibodies that can prevent the virus from multiplying in the body and producing severe disease. They do not have a vaccine yet, but they may well have a road map toward the production of one.
A team based at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla reports today in the journal Science that they have isolated two so-called broadly neutralizing antibodies that can block the action of many strains of HIV, the virus responsible for AIDS.
Crucial to the discovery is the fact that the antibodies target a portion of HIV that researchers had not considered in their search for a vaccine. Moreover, the target is a relatively stable portion of the virus that does not participate in the extensive mutations that have made HIV able to escape from antiviral drugs and previous experimental vaccines.
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Emily K
September 4th, 2009
Dan Savage commented on AIDS anti-virus scientific progress in an article from a while ago; and it’s one of the few things I can just about totally agree upon. Please allow me to quote him here:
Lindoro Almaviva
September 4th, 2009
Emily, what a great quote
Priya Lynn
September 4th, 2009
Yes, but I don’t think its a good idea to advocate alcohol as a method to lowering your inhibitions, that drug leads to unprotected sex as well as a host of other problems. How about avoid drugs in general?
Emily K
September 4th, 2009
Priya I’d agree with you there. Really the part of the quote I most agree with is the first paragraph. I love that he is advocating commonsense-restraint. Nobody could ever accuse Savage of doing so because he’s a “prude.”
Priya Lynn
September 5th, 2009
Yes, Emily, its a very important message.
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