Madam, — It is immensely exciting to read of an Aids patient in Berlin who appears to be HIV-free after a stem-cell transplant procedure using cells with a rare genetic mutation that seems to inhibit HIV replication.
Making this procedure available to everyone living with HIV infection is, of course, completely impracticable (HEALTHplus, November 18th). Stem cell transplants are not only expensive but are risky procedures that can be justified only in limited situations. The fact that the patient now exhibits no signs of infection is an exciting medical breakthrough that offers real hope for a future without this terrible disease.
But as scientists continue their work to develop a possible cure, I encourage the world not to forget the commitments already made by world leaders to ensure everyone living with HIV and Aids has access to life-saving medicines by 2010.
Let us not therefore divert much-needed funds from current methods of care and treatment and pour all HIV and Aids funding into what is, in its current incarnation, a rich man's solution to a poor man's problem.
Scientists, when carrying out further research, should always bear in mind that the vast majority of those needing a cure live on less than $2 a day. - Yours, etc,