Danish researchers hopeful of HIV cure

Every year, two-and-a-half million people worldwide contract HIV, and it is estimated that as many as 34 million people are currently infected.

For decades, researchers have been searching for a cure for the dreaded condition, and now a team of Danish researchers may be on the verge of success.

The researchers are based at Aarhus University Hospital, and their results are so promising that the whole world is now looking to Denmark in the hope of a breakthrough.

Making cells visible

The researchers have found a substance that can make the invisible HIV-infected cells in the body visible. Once the cells have been revealed, they can be killed with HIV therapy and the body’s own immune defence system.

A trial is now being performed with 15 HIV-infected Danes. If the substance has the same effect in humans as in the laboratory, the researchers believe they have achieved their aim.

“If it works 100 per cent, it’s the cure for HIV. It’s completely crazy to think that this could be possible,” said Professor Lars Østergaard, head of the Department of Infectious Diseases, who has never before been so certain of an effective treatment for HIV as he is now.

A foundation for success

The research team has been awarded DKK 12 million, which has taken them to the head of the search for an HIV cure. And this has huge implications; although life-prolonging medicine already exists, only a tiny minority of the world’s 34 million HIV-infected people have access to it.

“I think this is a foundation on which we can build to finally find a cure,” said Østergaard.

The first results of the trial at Aarhus University Hospital will be ready in a year’s time.