A cure for AIDS?
Doctors in Houston think they may have found a way to kill the virus that causes AIDS. They say they have found a way to attack the virus by attacking a key protein in it that does not mutate -- that, in effect, makes the virus what it is despite any mutations it undergoes. The virus has persisted as long as it has in part by mutating, rendering treatments ineffective.
Obviously that would be a huge breakthrough if it turns out to be true. But the caveats attached to this story are, to state the obvious, huge. Just for starters, there have been no human trials, just lab and animal studies, and there's no funding on the horizon for human trials. And in science, breakthroughs of this type are far less common than incremental increases in knowledge gained through research.
Still, to state even more of the obvious, if this research pans out, the lives of millions of people in the U.S. and around the world could be saved.
