At least 25 low- and middle-income Countries to budget more for HIV/AIDS measures as U.S. withdraws aid

Good news! President Trump called out the many free rider countries! 

Unfortunately, these sources do not report explicitly whether other Western countries stepped up their efforts.

"In the wake of deep cuts in foreign assistance made by President Donald Trump’s administration, at least 25 countries expect to increase their domestic budgets for efforts to treat and prevent HIV infection and AIDS, according to a new report from the United Nations.

Separately, the government of South Africa, the country with the world’s highest number of HIV infections, last week announced a concrete plan to help fill the funding gap. But a close look at that plan suggests the country will still have to massively scale back its response to its epidemic—a harbinger of what many other countries will likely face. ..."

"But the sudden withdrawal of the single biggest contributor to the global HIV response disrupted treatment and prevention programmes around the world in early 2025. 

International assistance accounts for 80% of prevention programmes in low- and middle-income countries. ... 

Twenty-five of the 60 low- and middle-income countries included in this report have found ways to increase HIV spending from domestic resources into 2026. This is the future of the HIV response—nationally owned and led, sustainable, inclusive and multisectoral. ..."

Global Health NOW: Danish Study Finds Aluminum in Vaccines Safe; Abortion Access in Sicily; and Missed Flood Warnings in Texas and North Carolina

Countries to budget more for HIV/AIDS measures as U.S. withdraws aid

UNAIDS: Aids, Crisis And The Power To Transform "Global Aids Update 2025"

US cuts to HIV aid will cost millions of lives - UNAids chief. Really!

Why do not other countries (including African countries) spend more on HIV/AIDS aid? What about Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and so on.

The alarmism and hysteria associated with the Trump Derangement Syndrome continues and gets more bizarre!

HIV/AIDS is so easily preventable when informed individuals act responsibly!

"US funding cuts will lead to an additional 2,000 new HIV infections each day and over six million further deaths over the next four years, the UNAids chief has warned.

It would mark a stark reversal in the global fight against HIV, which has seen the number of deaths from the disease decrease from more than two million in 2004 to 600,000 in 2023, the most recent year for which figures are available.

UNAids Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said the US government's decision to pause foreign aid - which included funding for HIV programmes - was already having devastating consequences. ..."

US cuts to HIV aid will cost millions of lives - UNAids chief

Credits: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: Global Health NOW

What has this aeronautical engineer and feminist activist done lately do prevent the spread!

CDC website scrubs HIV content following Trump diversity policy changes. Really!

What a piece of junk journalism! If the CDC indeed removed HIV/AIDS related content then someone at CDC clearly overreacted. Perhaps intentionally so to smear Trump (Hint: Trump Derangement Syndrome).

In sub-Saharan African countries where homosexuality is legal, gay and bisexual men still likely to have ever tested for HIV

After more than 40 years since the AIDS pandemic of the early 1980s, are they still practicing unsafe sex?

"In sub-Saharan African countries where homosexuality is legal, gay and bisexual men were 2X as likely to have ever tested for HIV compared to countries where it’s illegal, according to a BMJ study that also found countries with targeted HIV policies for this key population saw a more than twofold testing increase."

"Background HIV incidence among men who have sex with men (MSM) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) remains high compared with the general population. ... This study examines how HIV testing of adult MSM in SSA varies according to the legal climate and presence of targeted HIV policy using data from the cross-sectional 2019 Global LGBTI Internet Survey study. ...

Results We find evidence that legalised same-sex relationships were associated with increased odds of ever testing (OR=2.00, 95% CI 1.04, 3.82) in multilevel analyses. We also find evidence of an association of targeted HIV policies with increased odds of ever testing (OR=2.49, 95% CI 1.12, 5.52). ..."

Global Health NOW: Heat’s ‘Far-Reaching’ Harm to Global Health; Helping Haitian Parents Help Kids; and Keeping Sight of Outdoor Time

Association of same-sex criminalisation laws and national HIV policies with HIV testing in African MSM: an ecological single-level and multilevel cross-sectional study of sub-Saharan African countries (no public access)

Researchers identify protein that helps HIV remain silent

Amazing stuff! We are still learning new things about the HIV virus! Beating viral pathogens one trick at a time!

"... According to the World Health Organization, at the end of 2021 more than 38 million people were living with HIV.

... a research team ... show for the first time that a protein, the aryl hydrocarbon receptor or AhR, plays a crucial role in this viral latency [hiding during antiretroviral therapy]. ...
To prove it, the scientists used the CRISPR/Cas9 system to knock out the expression of AhR. They also used drugs that induce or block AhR activation. With these two approaches neutralizing AhR activity, the team observed that viral growth occurred in CD4+ T cells of people living with HIV and on antiretroviral therapy. ..."

From the highlights and abstract:

"Highlights

• AhR activation, induced upon TCR triggering, boosts non-pathogenic Th17 functions

• AhR gene editing decreases IL-22/IL-10 production and increases HIV-1 replication

• AhR pharmacological blockade promotes HIV outgrowth in cells of ART-treated PLWH

• AhR directly regulates HIC1, an HIV-1 repressor and tissue-residency regulator

Summary

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) regulates Th17-polarized CD4+ T cell functions, but its role in HIV-1 replication/outgrowth remains unknown. Genetic (CRISPR-Cas9) and pharmacological inhibition reveal AhR as a barrier to HIV-1 replication in T cell receptor (TCR)-activated CD4+ T cells in vitro. In single-round vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV)-G-pseudotyped HIV-1 infection, AhR blockade increases the efficacy of early/late reverse transcription and subsequently facilitated integration/translation. Moreover, AhR blockade boosts viral outgrowth in CD4+ T cells of people living with HIV-1 (PLWH) receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART). Finally, RNA sequencing reveals genes/pathways downregulated by AhR blockade in CD4+ T cells of ART-treated PLWH, including HIV-1 interactors and gut-homing molecules with AhR-responsive elements in their promoters. Among them, HIC1, a repressor of Tat-mediated HIV-1 transcription and a tissue-residency master regulator, is identified by chromatin immunoprecipitation as a direct AhR target. Thus, AhR governs a T cell transcriptional program controlling viral replication/outgrowth and tissue residency/recirculation, supporting the use of AhR inhibitors in “shock and kill” HIV-1 remission/cure strategies."

Researchers identify protein that helps HIV remain silent

Identification of aryl hydrocarbon receptor as a barrier to HIV-1 infection and outgrowth in CD4+ T cells (open access)

Graphical abstract

Third patient free of HIV after receiving virus-resistant cells

Good news! Human ingenuity prevails against any virus!

"A 53-year-old man in Germany has become at least the third person with HIV to be declared cleared of the virus after a procedure that replaced his bone marrow cells with HIV-resistant stem cells from a donor."

Third patient free of HIV after receiving virus-resistant cells But the risks associated with the procedure mean it is unlikely to be widely used in its current form.

HIV drug stabilizes progression in metastatic colorectal cancer

Amazing stuff! Cancer is history soon! Perhaps, these results open up a new direction in research!

"Findings from the trial, published in Cancer Discovery, raise the possibility of an unexpected promising direction in cancer treatment, not just colorectal cancer. The drug used in the study was lamivudine, a reverse transcriptase inhibitor.

The trial included 32 patients with advanced metastatic colon cancer whose disease progressed despite four lines of previous cancer treatments. The first nine patients received the standard HIV-approved dose of lamivudine.

“After giving them only this one drug — nothing else — we saw signs of disease stability,” ... After adjusting the dosing four-fold, another 23 patients received lamivudine therapy where it was highly tolerated.

The research team observed that 9 of the 32 patients, or 28 percent, had disease stability or mixed response at the end of the trial. “This provides evidence that an HIV drug can be repurposed as an anti-cancer therapy in metastatic cancer patients,” ... did not see tumor shrinkage, the results are encouraging. ...
The first clues to this unusual drug trial surfaced in Ting’s lab and those of his collaborators over the past 10 years. The team discovered that up to 50 percent of a tumor’s DNA was composed of “repetitive elements,” which were previously considered “junk DNA.” ...
“Only cancer cells produced these repetitive element, not healthy cells,” ... Colorectal cancers produce abundant amounts of repetitive elements, as do cancers of the esophagus, lung, and several others. These repetitive elements spew out extraordinary levels of RNA which replicate in a viral-like life cycle through reverse transcription ..."

From the abstract:

"Altered RNA expression of repetitive sequences and retrotransposition are frequently seen in colorectal cancer (CRC) implicating a functional importance of repeat activity in cancer progression. We show the nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor 3TC targets activities of these repeat elements in CRC pre-clinical models with a preferential effect in P53 mutant cell lines linked with direct binding of P53 to repeat elements. We translate these findings to a human Phase 2 trial of single agent 3TC treatment in metastatic CRC with demonstration of clinical benefit in 9 of 32 patients. Analysis of 3TC effects on CRC tumorspheres demonstrates accumulation of immunogenic RNA:DNA hybrids linked with induction of interferon response genes and DNA damage response. Epigenetic and DNA damaging agents induce repeat RNAs and have enhanced cytotoxicity with 3TC. These findings identify a vulnerability in CRC by targeting the viral mimicry of repeat elements."

HIV drug stabilizes progression in metastatic colorectal cancer – Harvard Gazette Stabilized 25 percent of patients in trial by disrupting the repeat element in life cycle of disease

Reverse Transcriptase Inhibition Disrupts Repeat Element Life Cycle in Colorectal Cancer (no public access)

In study, a woman achieved cure from HIV and remission of acute myeloid leukemia

Good news! However, tainted by the ideology of racism!

According to Johns Hopkins University, CNN, and New York Times this had to be turned into an ideology of racism event: "A US woman of mixed race has gone into HIV remission after a stem cell transplant from umbilical cord blood—marking the third-ever time someone appears to have been cured of HIV, and the first using this approach ... Researchers said the method’s success has especially encouraging implications for people of more racially diverse backgrounds ..."

Very annoying!!! What the heck does this have to do with race!!!

"UCLA researchers presented today the first case of a U.S. woman living with HIV-1 that is in remission after she received a new combination of specialized stem cell transplants for treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). ...
This woman has been in remission of AML for 4½ years and has had no HIV rebound in the 14 months since antiretroviral therapy was stopped ...
If HIV remission continues and she is determined to be cured, she would be only the third person to achieve cure and the first HIV remission to have been successfully engrafted with umbilical cord blood cells with a mutation that is protective against HIV-1 (CCR5-delta32/32 homozygous) combined with stem cells from an adult, haploidentical (“half-matched”) related donor. ...
The CCR5-delta32 mutation is rare, but cord blood banks may provide a previously untapped resource, according to the researchers, and the combination therapy would enable clinicians to take advantage of the unique benefits offered by each type of graft for more diverse populations. ..."

UCLA Health at CROI: Presenting the case of a woman with HIV-1 in remission following specialized stem cell transplantation for leukemia

P1107 / Cord Blood Transplantation Cord Blood Transplantation with CCR5delta32 Donor Cells in Persons Living with HIV who Require Bone Marrow Transplantation for any Indication and Its Observed Effects on HIV-1 Persistence

After several decades, are we finally able to clear the body of the HIV virus?

Good news! What took so long?

"... Worldwide, there are currently 38 million people living with HIV, and an estimated 36 million have died of HIV-related diseases in the decades since HIV began circulating, according to UNAIDS. ...

The UCLA-led study continues research on a strategy called “kick and kill,” which many of the same scientists first described in a 2017 paper. The approach coaxes the dormant virus to reveal itself in infected cells, so it can then be targeted and killed. In the earlier study, the researchers gave antiretroviral drugs to mice whose immune systems had been altered to mimic those of humans, and then infected with HIV. They then administered a synthetic compound called SUW133, which was developed at Stanford University, to activate the mice’s dormant HIV. Up to 25% of the previously dormant cells that began expressing HIV died within 24 hours. ...

In the new study, while the mice were receiving antiretrovirals, the researchers used SUW133 to flush HIV infected cells out of hiding. They then injected healthy natural killer cells into the mice’s blood to kill the infected cells. The combination of SUW133 and injections of healthy natural killer immune cells completely cleared the HIV in 40% of the HIV-infected mice. ..."

From the abstract:

"HIV is difficult to eradicate due to the persistence of a long-lived reservoir of latently infected cells. ... Here we show the administration of allogeneic human peripheral blood natural killer cells delays viral rebound following interruption of anti-retroviral therapy in humanized mice infected with HIV-1. Utilizing genetically barcoded virus technology, we show these natural killer cells efficiently reduced viral clones rebounding from latency. Moreover, a kick and kill strategy comprised of the protein kinase C modulator and latency reversing agent SUW133 and allogeneic human peripheral blood natural killer cells during anti-retroviral therapy eliminated the viral reservoir in a subset of mice. Therefore, combinations utilizing latency reversal agents with targeted cellular killing agents may be an effective approach to eradicating the viral reservoir."

UCLA-led team refines ‘kick and kill’ strategy aimed at eliminating HIV-infected cells | UCLA Study in mice could point toward method for clearing virus from people who would otherwise depend on medication

Latency reversal plus natural killer cells diminish HIV reservoir in vivo (open access)

Scientists Discover Sugar Molecule on HIV-infected Cell That Plays a Role in Evading Immune System

Good news!

"The findings, published in PLOS Pathogens, could lead to new treatments that don’t just suppress HIV-infected cells, but kill them. That would be a key step toward finally curing HIV. ...
[researchers] looked at a type of sugar found on the surface of HIV cells called sialic acid. These sugars can trigger inhibitors on disease-fighting "killer" immune cells, shutting them down before they attack. ... that these HIV-infected cells are covering themselves with these sugars to evade immune surveillance ...

The researchers used an enzyme that removed the sialic acid. This caused the immune cells to attack and destroy the HIV. 

"The killer cells become a super killer for the HIV-infected cells," ...

Current treatments can reduce HIV to undetectable levels, but they can’t eradicate it entirely. The disease typically returns quickly when treatment stops. ..."

From the abstract:

"Siglec-9 is an MHC-independent inhibitory receptor expressed on a subset of natural killer (NK) cells. Siglec-9 restrains NK cytotoxicity by binding to sialoglycans (sialic acid-containing glycans) on target cells. Despite the importance of Siglec-9 interactions in tumor immune evasion, their role as an immune evasion mechanism during HIV infection has not been investigated. Using in vivo phenotypic analyses, we found that Siglec-9+ CD56dim NK cells, during HIV infection, exhibit an activated phenotype with higher expression of activating receptors and markers (NKp30, CD38, CD16, DNAM-1, perforin) and lower expression of the inhibitory receptor NKG2A, compared to Siglec-9- CD56dim NK cells. We also found that levels of Siglec-9+ CD56dim NK cells inversely correlate with viral load during viremic infection and CD4+ T cell-associated HIV DNA during suppressed infection. Using in vitro cytotoxicity assays, we confirmed that Siglec-9+ NK cells exhibit higher cytotoxicity towards HIV-infected cells compared to Siglec-9- NK cells. These data are consistent with the notion that Siglec-9+ NK cells are highly cytotoxic against HIV-infected cells. However, blocking Siglec-9 enhanced NK cells’ ability to lyse HIV-infected cells, consistent with the known inhibitory function of the Siglec-9 molecule. Together, these data support a model in which the Siglec-9+ CD56dim NK subpopulation is highly cytotoxic against HIV-infected cells even whilst being restrained by the inhibitory effects of Siglec-9. To harness the cytotoxic capacity of the Siglec-9+ NK subpopulation, which is dampened by Siglec-9, we developed a proof-of-concept approach to selectively disrupt Siglec/sialoglycan interactions between NK and HIV-infected cells. We achieved this goal by conjugating Sialidase to several HIV broadly neutralizing antibodies. These conjugates selectively desialylated HIV-infected cells and enhanced NK cells’ capacity to kill them.  ..."

Wistar Scientists Discover Sugar Molecule on HIV-infected Cell That Plays a Role in Evading Immune System All cells have an outer layer of sugar molecules ... Now a new study by Wistar scientists shows how these sugars play a key role in helping HIV cells evade the immune system. The study also shows how this mechanism can be disabled

Siglec-9 defines and restrains a natural killer subpopulation highly cytotoxic to HIV-infected cells

Moderna is about to start testing its mRNA HIV vaccine

Good news!

Moderna is about to start testing its mRNA HIV vaccine | Popular Science The same system Moderna used for its COVID vaccine may also be able to help prevent HIV.

A Phase 1 Study to Evaluate the Safety and Immunogenicity of eOD-GT8 60mer mRNA Vaccine (mRNA-1644) and Core-g28v2 60mer mRNA Vaccine (mRNA-1644v2-Core) A Phase 1, Randomized, First-in-human, Open-label Study to Evaluate the Safety and Immunogenicity of eOD-GT8 60mer mRNA Vaccine (mRNA-1644) and Core-g28v2 60mer mRNA Vaccine (mRNA-1644v2-Core) in HIV-1 Uninfected Adults in Good General Health

In a first, a person’s immune system fought HIV — and won

Amazing stuff!

"... Twice, people infected with HIV have had levels of the virus in their bodies drop to undetectable levels after bone marrow transplants, never to return. Now it appears that a person may have cleared functional HIV with no outside help. If true, it would be the first known instance of a spontaneous cure. ...
Analysis of more than 1.5 billion cells taken from a patient known as EC2 showed no functional HIV copies in any of them, researchers report August 26 in Nature. The person still had some nonfunctional copies of the virus. ...

A second person, EC1, had just one functional copy of HIV in more than 1 billion blood cells analyzed. And that copy of HIV was [entrapped] in what is essentially a genetic supermax prison. That genetic lockup may be key to being able to naturally control the virus. ...
Those two people are part of a rare group of people known as elite controllers, meaning they are able to maintain very low or undetectable levels of HIV without antiretroviral drugs. These people have no symptoms or clear signs of damage from the virus. ..."

In a first, a person’s immune system fought HIV — and won | Science News Analysis of 1.5 billion cells from this rare case found no trace of the virus

Here is the link to the respective research article:

Distinct viral reservoirs in individuals with spontaneous control of HIV-1 (The abstract is tough reading for layman like me)

About the HIV cure in the Sao Paulo Patient

I have little doubt that the cure for AIDS/HIV is practically achieved or will be achieved in the near future! If this treatment strategy was not yet ultimately successful, successor treatments will be even better!



OK, some doubts linger: " ... But he [clinical investigator running the study that includes the Sao Paulo patient] notes his team has not sampled the man’s lymph nodes or gut for the virus since he stopped treatment. ... Only two people are known to have been cured of their HIV infections: Timothy Ray Brown and a man who has asked to be referred to as the London Patient; both received bone marrow transplants [a very different treatment than the Sao Paulo patient] as part of a treatment for cancers."



Keep in mind that the study presented here had only five patients receiving the same treatment:

"To compare different reservoir-clearing strategies, Diaz and colleagues in 2015 recruited the São Paulo Patient and other individuals who had controlled their HIV infections with ARVs. The most aggressive approach, used in this man and four others, added two ARVs to the three they were already taking, in the hope this would rout out any HIV that might have dodged the standard treatment. On top of this “intensification,” the study group received nicotinamide, which can, in theory, prod infected cells to “wake up” the latent virus. When those cells make new HIV, they either self-destruct or are vulnerable to immune attack.



After 48 weeks on this intensified schedule, the five trial participants returned to their regular three-drug regimen for 3 years, after which they stopped all treatment. Four saw the virus quickly return, but the São Paulo Patient has now gone 66 weeks without signs of being infected."



An intriguing—but far from proven—HIV cure in the ‘São Paulo Patient’ | Science | AAAS A 36-year-old man in Brazil has seemingly cleared an HIV infection—making him the proof of principle in humans of a novel drug strategy designed to flush the AIDS virus out of all of its reservoirs in the body. After receiving an especially aggressive combination of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs and nicotinamide (vitamin B3), the ... Sao Paulo Patient t ... went off all HIV treatment in March 2019 and has not had the virus return to his blood.

Potent coronavirus drug candidate designed using 3D structure of key viral enzyme

Great news! This appears to be very promising research into the virus major protease! This research covers SARS-CoV-2, MERS, and HIV! 


"The main Sars-CoV-2 protease is an enzyme that is crucial for the virus. It processes a large polyprotein – around 790kDa – that the virus makes by hijacking our own cell’s machinery, and then cleaves it into 12 smaller proteins that include the machinery the virus needs to replicate itself. The team at the University of Luebeck previously developed broad-spectrum inhibitors against this protease, known as α-ketoamides, for the major two types of coronaviruses that infect humans ... One compound, α-ketoamide 13b, inhibited the main protease of the virus, as well as the related Mers virus. The 13b inhibitor developed in Hilgenfeld’s lab was given to mice using a nebuliser without any adverse effects. This suggests direct delivery to the lungs may be feasible in Covid-19 patients. ... The virus’s major protease has been shown to be essential in other related viruses and as there are no identical proteases in the human body, it is a viable target,’ ... Perhaps the best example of protease inhibitors are those against HIV."


Potent coronavirus drug candidate designed using 3D structure of key viral enzyme | Research | Chemistry World: Inhibitor of Sars-CoV-2 protease shows promise in early animal tests

One Step Closer to Eradicating HIV

Why are we still not one step closer to eradicating influenza and the common cold? Apparently, HIV is a much more difficult foe than e.g. the influenza virus! I think, this is scandalous and outrageous!

One Step Closer to Eradicating HIV — Caltech Magazine: By Lori Dajose (BS ’16) Caltech researchers have developed the first component of a possible HIV vaccine, a step that may mean the AIDS-causing virus could eventually be eradicated worldwide. When exposed to an invading virus, the human immune system develops proteins called antibodies that becom

Viruses Cause Extensive Neurodegenerative Diseases?

Posted: 3/3/2019

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/artful-amoeba/the-case-for-transmissible-alzheimers-grows/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly-review&utm_content=link&utm_term=2019-02-13_top-stories

Disclaimer

If confirmed and substantiated, then this is a huge discovery! This has the potential of a paradigm shift or scientific revolution! I am not a scientist or doctor!

Scientists Many Failures Are All Too Human!

Have indeed scientists and doctors seriously underestimated or even arrogantly dismissed viruses like flu for decades? For several decades, neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's or Multiple Sclerosis were a mystery to our best scientists and doctors!

As an example, already as early as 1991 it was discovered that HIV traverses the blood brain barrier and causes damage to the brain and “that when the virus infiltrates the brain, it spurs neuronal death and a loss of synaptic connections” (Source 1; emphasis added). Why was this stunning discovery not immediately exploited and pursued to the fullest extent and immediately applied to other viruses?

It is very shocking to learn again and again how the best scientists and doctors can go down blind alleys for decades or even centuries ignoring or dismissing or wrongly and vigorously contesting other, alternative explanations!

Viruses And The Brain

Here is an excellent and comprehensive article about it. Usually, I am a bit reluctant to rely too much on one article to make bold generalizations, but having previously read many other reports about viruses in the brain, prions etc. I don’t think it is far fetched.

The article makes following bold statements:

1. That viruses like flu (e.g. H1N1, H5N1, herpes, HIV, encephalitis, measles) cause direct or indirect (via e.g. inflammation or toxins in compromised immune systems or via primed nervous system or via induced gene expression) damage to various brain cells (e.g. in the substantia nigra, oligodendrocytes) resulting in severe neurodegenerative symptoms like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer, dementia, encephalitis lethargica, and Multiple Sclerosis
2. These viruses are apparently capable of easily passing the blood brain barrier or they infiltrate the brain via major nerves like vagus nerve (via the gut) or lingual nerve (via the nose). We learn that viruses use at least three different ways to traverse the blood brain barrier: a) Direct crossing, b) Via Trojan horse or c) Immune response
3. Some of the neurodegenerative diseases caused by viruses may not be diagnosed in an individual before years or decades have passed

Shingles And Dementia

An article (Source 3) claims that a shingles infection that strikes the facial nerve important to facial movement (caused by varicella zoster virus) or shingles in the eye (“herpes zoster ophthalmicus”) can cause dementia (“The brain vessel damage that can occur with shingles is similar to what is often seen in dementia”). “Varicella zoster virus lives in about 95 percent of the U.S. adult population, thanks to ... chicken pox. ... but the virus remains, dormant in nerve cells [for the rest of your life] … Recently, scientists have learned more about the virus’s ability to infect arteries [“varicella zoster virus vasculopathy”], increasing the risk of stroke or causing headaches and vision problems. … One recently discovered viral target is the gut. ... the virus haunts the digestive organs’ local system of nerves, known as the enteric nervous system. In the gut, instead of a rash, the virus can cause abdominal pain, ulcers or other problems … detected varicella zoster virus in the saliva of six of 11 patients with unexplained abdominal pain for up to four months … The reactivated virus may also be behind some cases of a painful inflammation of the arteries at the temples called giant cell arteritis. More common in older adults, the disorder causes severe headaches, jaw pain and vision problems, and can lead to blindness. … But surprisingly, the virus appears to hide in very few nerve cells. In autopsy samples of ganglia …, researchers found dormant virus in only 34 of 2,226 [different?] nerve cells, or 1.5 percent” (Source 3; emphasis added).

There is more great information in the article (Source 3)!

Misfolded Proteins And The Brain

Another article (Source 4) claims that amyloid is similar and transmissible like prions. Latest research experimentally confirmed such transmission. “When the misfolded versions [of Amyloid beta] form, they behave like prions, catalyzing the conversion of healthy forms into diseased ones and accumulating in clumps called plaques. … In Parkinson’s Disease, misfolded alpha-synuclein proteins spread through the brain, and in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s Disease), the misfolded, accumulating protein is TDP-43. We should investigate the transmission potential of these diseases as well. … What is the difference between amyloid and prions? Are they part of a spectrum? Are they one and the same? If not, what is the difference?” (Source 4; emphasis added)

What is it now viruses or transmissibility of amyloid or both?

Sources:

1. Can the Flu and Other Viruses Cause Neurodegeneration? Scientists may need to seriously reconsider the cast-aside hypothesis that pathogens can play a part in diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s (published 3/1/2019)
2. PSYCHOSES ASSOCIATED WITH INFLUENZA (published 1919; this link is provided in Source 1, but I listed it separately to stress that we had for several centuries repeated hints of a link between influenza and psychic disorders, which was summarized in this 1919 article)
3. With its burning grip, shingles can do lasting damage When varicella zoster reawakens, it wreaks a surprising amount of havoc in the body (published 2/26/2019)
4. The Case for Transmissible Alzheimer's Grows What separates a lethal prion from a dementia-associated amyloid plaque? Maybe not much (published 2/7/2019; what bothers me about this article is that the author, Jennifer Frazer, wrote it in such a way that the reader is led to believe she is a researching scientist, she is not)

HIV Is History!

Just read “Can Gene Therapy Cure HIV? Engineering a patient’s own immune cells to resist HIV could eliminate the need for lifelong antiretroviral therapies.”

The days of HIV are counted! :-)

Next Common Cold!