I’ve read this worrying online article in the Belgian magazine, Knack. It says that resistance against retroviral medication is a realistic possibility.
 

Jeremy Farrar, CEO of the British charity – and research organisation ‘Welcome Trust’ said: “HIV patients are becoming more and more resistant to the medication, which after a while won’t have any effect anymore.” He even stated that a new HIV pandemic is a real possibility. This is really bad bad bad news.
 

Did you know that ‘antimicrobial resistance’ (AMR) and the climate change are the biggest threats to humanity? Just to explain what AMR is: this is phenomenon where bacteria and other microbes such as viruses, become immune to the medication that we take to fight those bacteria. This seems to occur more frequently and it could cause some serious problem with the HIV virus. A PANDEMIC! I don’t know about you guys, but this news scares me.
 

I mean, yeah scientists are coming up with new cures and prevention medication, but if we’re becoming resistant to it, it has no point at all. This is also where I want to say, EDUCATION = PREVENTION. Educating people about what HIV is and how to prevent it is the key.
 

This resistance that we’re developing can have a serious impact the next 20 years. The HIV virus can mutated very easily and turn into a pandemic. Yes new cures are being developed, but the options aren’t inexhaustible.

Jeremy Farrar says that existing treatments should become more efficient and those new medicines to fight this resistance need to be created. Also very crucial is the development of a vaccine, but this is very hard to make for a virus like HIV.
 

I just hope they find something strong enough to fight this. In the meanwhile ‘education = prevention’.
 

Source: www.knack.be