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Meckes/Gerdelblom/Photo Researchers, No Credit |
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With just 10 genes wrapped in a coating of protein and sugar, the virus that causes aids (left) has managed to stay several steps ahead of humanity's best efforts to control it. More than 55 million people have been infected around the world. But medicine is beginning to control this deadly scourge--with implications that go beyond aids. For instance, scientists have uncovered the wily molecular tricks hiv uses to slip its own genes into cells. That has enabled companies to devise drugs capable of blocking viral entry. The unprecedented research effort is also dramatically boosting our understanding of the immune system. In aids, clever new vaccines based on that knowledge are already offering the hope that the body could keep the virus in check on its own. And the aids breakthroughs will catalyze development of treatments for other diseases as well.
Scientists caution that a permanent cure for aids is still a dream. But new drugs, vaccines, and a growing international commitment to fight the illness as both a health and an economic problem should finally end this epidemic--and also help improve the public health infrastructure enough to tame malaria and other terrible diseases.
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