DW News published this video item, entitled “Could the coronavirus bring us closer to an HIV vaccine? | COVID-19 Special” – below is their description.
HIV leads to hundreds of thousands of deaths a year. And there’s no vaccine, despite decades of research.
That very research has seen several COVID vaccines developed at lightning speed.
The coronavirus is pretty straightforward, while HIV is a master of disguise and mutates incredibly quickly. But recent breakthroughs provide hope, and mRNA technology could be the game-changer.
DW News YouTube Channel
Got a comment? Leave your thoughts in the comments section, below. Please note comments are moderated before publication.
In This Story: HIV
The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of Lentivirus (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive.
Without treatment, average survival time after infection with HIV is estimated to be 9 to 11 years, depending on the HIV subtype. In most cases, HIV is a sexually transmitted infection and occurs by contact with or transfer of blood, pre-ejaculate, semen, and vaginal fluids. Research has shown (for both same-sex and opposite-sex couples) that HIV is untransmittable through condomless sexual intercourse if the HIV-positive partner has a consistently undetectable viral load.
Non-sexual transmission can occur from an infected mother to her infant during pregnancy, during childbirth by exposure to her blood or vaginal fluid, and through breast milk. Within these bodily fluids, HIV is present as both free virus particles and virus within infected immune cells.
For help & assistance
5 Recent Items: HIV
