As they held a candlelight event in remembrance of those who died of AIDS, researchers at the Makerere University Walter Reed Project (MUWRP) said despite Uganda getting involved in many botched trials to find an effective vaccine, the country still needs a cure suitable for the Uganda setting.
Speaking at the event held in the lead to World AIDS Day on Sunday, Dr Grace Mirembe the Research Manager at MUWRP said the entity is currently collecting samples from tissues including lymph nodes which are known as hiding places for the virus to test whether the virus can be woken up, modified and made incapable of multiplying and spreading infection further among people who are positive.
The researcher explains that this strategy is premised on the fact that they already know that the virus tends to invade and hide in places such as the brain, lymph nodes and blood cells in early weeks of infection where currently available Anti-retroviral treatments do not reach.
So far, they have collected lymph nodes from five participants, but Mirembe says this is not the only strategy that they are employing in finding a cure. She explains that the other aspect they are studying in getting participants living with HIV off treatment and give them antibodies or a vaccine when their viral load starts increasing.
Globally, there are quite a number of different cure studies taking place and according to Dr Betty MUWRP’s Deputy Executive Director these are initiatives in a good direction considering that HIV infection rates are still high and a lot of people are still dying. Worryingly according to her 13% of all AIDS related deaths are occurring among young people, which means that research should give them special attention.
She says that researchers need to keep communicating to communities what is in the pipeline but also tell them that HIV is still a struggle although a lot of innovations have been developed including Pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis medications.
On her part, Robinah Babirye, a young woman living with HIV applauded people who are open about their status saying these help exert pressure on researchers to continue the search for a permanent solution or a cure.
She noted however that there is need to counter a lot misinformation that comes up when new innovations in care come up. Citing, Lenacapavir a long-acting HIV drug that was recently found to be effective as a PrEP option, she said a lot of people especially on social media were wrongly saying that a HIV cure had finally been found.
