Why We've Only Cured HIV Seven Times

[@mal9369]

I hope to one day come back to this video and comment about how HIV has been entirely eradicated

[@icholi88]

I mean if people stop transmitting it, that could be tomorrow with the appropriate amount of education.

[@deepbluedivingexploration]

​@@icholi88 Not going to happen with all those anti vaccine sentiments in even generally well educated countries, yet alone in the third world countries where education is not in the top three issues on people's minds.

[@ops3892]

@@icholi88 impossible we don't live in a lala perfect land that will never happen with education. We have cures for plenty of other diseases that still pop up because of pure human arrogance. You can't educate someone that does not want to be educated.

[@bethsmith3421]

Wouldn't that be fantastic!

[@KenishiroMashiba]

Yeah, not gonna happen bro, HIV treatment is a multi billion dollar annually buisness.

[@controlfreak1963]

As a recent stem cell transplant survivor, it is an incredibly brutal ordeal with up to 20% not surviving the first year. GVHD (graft versus host disease) is the next horror to endure that lasts years or ends up taking you out. I'm 2 1/2 years into chronic GVHD and it's been pretty bad. It did cure my chronic leukemia of 20 years and there were no options left.

[@ffc1a28c7]

yup. I got AML in highschool and it was definitely brutal. Luckily, I didn't have any severe long-term side effects (just some standard reduced cell count, but they've mostly gone up to normal now) and I'm now at about 4.75 years post treatment (ngl, I very much am looking forward to the 5 year mark :P already have plans to get myself a cake lol).

[@blarblablarblar]

damn bruh. gl

[@ptonpc]

Good luck.

[@ikitoki]

Keep fighting, don't give up.

[@BKScience812]

​@@ffc1a28c7 It sounds like you got a second birthday. Congrats!

[@dressiknights]

4 people cured since 2023. That's quite the movement. Progress!

[@positivelyisabella]

I was born HIV positive in 91, I try my best to keep up to date on what’s going on in science around HIV. I genuinely believe there will be a cure in my life time. Thank you for shedding light on this topic

[@ethanvance3834]

My wife is an infectious diseases doctor with a research focus on HIV. She has met three of these seven people. It's an amazing field!

[@angierobyn3853]

Your wife is amazing!

[@HonestLeigh]

I work for a non-profit that provides low- to no-cost healthcare for people with HIV. Watching the number of people cured climb over the last few years brings me such hope, along with the record number of people living with HIV to achieve viral suppression in the US last year. It reminds me that our goal of Ending the Epidemic is not impossible, and it gets closer every day.

[@toolbaggers]

The problem is that poor people in Africa and Asia will not be able to afford treatment even if there was a reliable cure. Millions still die from diarrheal diseases and malaria.

[@A_smith96]

@@toolbaggers Mother Natures trying hard to heal herself from our population

[@businesszeus6864]

@@toolbaggersand let’s not forget about tuberculosis!! but we can still take the win when it comes. yeah HIV research!! thank you @HonestLeigh for the help you provide :)

[@TheRealWilliamWhite]

​@@toolbaggersand Tuberculosis

[@fabrisseterbrugghe8567]

I had a transfusion in a country where the blood supply was, I later found out, contaminated by HIV. The sheer terror I felt when I got tested for HIV has stayed with me for decades. I was lucky, and I know it.

[@adrianio1000]

Some people are outright immune to hiv. Maybe you should get tested and because a donor?

[@chrisjackson1215]

@@adrianio1000 Some people are resistant; not immune. Anything in a high enough dose can beat the immune system.

[@strategicbacon7349]

So the ccr5 mutation only protects against latent reservoir infections, not the entire disease?

[@mebreevee]

@strategicbacon7349 I think the latent reservoir infection is what continues to produce the virus through a person’s life. It does not prevent a person from getting it, it just takes away the virus’s ability to maintain its place in your body that allows it to keep hijacking cells. Kinda like how when you get mono, you will always technically have mono. It stays dormant in your body. Generally you can’t get it again, but it can “flare up” should you have another illness that sends your immune system into overdrive. I had a friend that got penumonia that led to her having a flare up.

[@justalonesoul5825]

France, I presume? As a belgian we always had access to french main channels and that scandal made a LOT of noise. If so, I can only imagine your terror for sure. Specially knowing how anxious I already am.

[@makefutur]

Imagine getting cured of cancer and HIV in one lucky shot. Those people most feel incredible

[@AlvarM]

As someone living with HIV I clocked on this faster than any other video ever ❤

[@WAbookworm]

💗

[@Kazner0h]

It's amazing to see all the progress that we've made against HIV. What was once a death sentence is now a condition that, when treated, does not impact one's quality of life and is not even transmissible. We've already overcome a lot of the dangers, and we're so close to just eliminating it once and for all.

[@MarkTolmanMA]

My life was greatly improved by the introduction of PrEP. It really reduced my fear of infection.

[@apburner1]

Wouldn't changing your behavior be much more effective?

[@loadings3819]

@@apburner1 its like a 99% reduction rate, its like telling a chick on birth control to just abstain from sex instead. Everyone taking extra precaution means theres way less chance then just trying to hope people tell the truth. Its like a third fail safe. more security is never wrong

[@mebreevee]

@@loadings3819 As a chick on birth control who abstains from sex (a personal decision, i take the birth control for hormone issues) I still really respect and appreciate prevention. I’m not one to really tell people how to live their life.

[@businesszeus6864]

@@apburner1what a useless comment

[@wasd____]

@@apburner1 Wouldn't not blaming the victims be much more effective?

[@trishapellis]

Imagine going into your blood cancer treatment and once you're done, doctors tell you "Oh look. It cured your HIV too. We didn't even know that was possible."

[@N-cromancer]

Had to happen once somewhere

[@wilavg]

They probably knew it was possible

[@RichardSarah-s6p]

DR ABIOLA ON YT CURED ME FROM HIV I AM SO GREATFUL ....

[@BougGroug]

Waiting for a day where I can come back to this video and find a comment saying "the number is over a million now!"

[@macdaddynick1751]

The number is over a million now!

[@BougGroug]

@macdaddynick1751 ok, I should've specified that it has to be true. That's on me

[@RichardSarah-s6p]

DR ABIOLA ON YT CURED ME FROM HIV I AM SO GREATFUL ....

[@mortenjohansen5781]

Just imagine a vaccine against HIV. I was born in the sixties so I've seen and known people who died of AID's, such a waste.

[@tobyk.4911]

Even if there were a vaccine already, unfortunately probably many people would not take it. We do have vaccines against polio and measles, and these diseases should have been eliminated about 20 years ago - but the fights against measles and polio don't even make progress anymore, apparently. Anti-vaccination opinions and disinformation are spreading on social media - well, like viruses - and with such people coming into powerful positions like the Taliban in Afghanistan and R. F. Kennedy Jr. (as new secretary for health) in the USA, it really doesn't get better

[@iExploder]

Sadly, these days most people wouldn't take it. :P

[@bass2762]

@@iExploder Survival of the fittest :P Edit: Natural selection is probably more fitting now that I think about it heh

[@oinkmagoink9129]

@@iExploderokay you blindly take whatever anybody tells you and let’s see who lives longer

[@valtarijunkkala]

@@oinkmagoink9129 "blindly" and "anybody" are quite wild. "based on research" and "recommended by healthcare professionals" is quite different.

[@itchy7879]

I remember when this number was 1! This is amazing progress :0

[@KaizerRemix]

Numbers 2-7 only came out in the last 5 years.

[@toolbaggers]

The Berlin patient still died of leukemia at the age of 54.

[@RichardSarah-s6p]

DR ABIOLA ON YT CURED ME FROM HIV I AM SO GREATFUL ....

[@zappababe8577]

The stigma against people with HIV and AIDS in the 80s was absolutely dreadful. Princess Diana did an awful lot to tackle that stigma when she shook the hand of a man who had AIDS. She did a really good thing right there.

[@3nertia]

I may technically be too young, but, I miss Princess Diana. I believe she was genuinely trying to use her stature to help the common people. Wouldn't be surprised if her family had her killed for it >_>

[@DS-re4vs]

She truly was the People’s Princess ❤

[@asterlyons8564]

Yes, Diana's work in fighting the stigma was so important. And the the US, Tammy Faye Bakker helped the cause by interviewing an AIDS patient and really humanizing the cost of the epidemic to her religious audience.

[@asterlyons8564]

Yes, Diana's work in fighting the stigma was so important. And the the US, Tammy Faye Bakker helped the cause by interviewing an AIDS patient and really humanizing the cost of the epidemic to her religious audience.

[@aniuncensored]

So many of the comments are utterly disappointing. It's a phenomenal break through to be at 7 patients cured fully in 2024, for those of us who grew up watching our heroes and peer groups die of HIV/AIDS in the 80's and 90's and right into the early 00's being a queer kid growing up and watching the ones who were 5-15 years older die or be battle hardened from holding their friends and lovers close in death is something that's been quickly forgotten by those left behind. We're spoiled by the wonder and changes in society, between prep and post exposure prophylaxis all the way to effective treatments that can take people from full blown AIDS to undetectable in a matter of months. I am supremely grateful that my own children are growing up in a better world. However, nothing would make me happier than to hear a reliable cure had been found along with a successful vaccine. HIV has been a dark chapter that had brought out some of the true monsters in humanity. We could put an end to it and move on. ❤

[@MynameisBrianZX]

Look up the complications of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and listen to any survivors, then reevaluate your haste to criticize people’s hopefulness.

[@arnaldosantoro6812]

Sensationalistic news gets more attention. Medicine which makes hiv untransmittable should be given more headlines. That stuff makes hiv a problem of the past. Sadly, our societies stayed in the '80 regarding stigma and medical information.

[@dreammaker9642]

I mean it’s not like it’s new, polio has killed so many and was so much worse… rabbits is a death sentence the minute you show symptoms… Tuberculosis has a cure yet millions die of it in Africa but you don’t care bout them because they are poor Africans and “they all so sick, god probably doesn’t like them anyway” (if you get that reference legend lol)… malaria also kills thousands and the Spanish flu has killed more people you are able to count. Sure HIV had a big PR campaign cause someone has to raise money but there are lot more serious diseases in the world we have cure for but won’t give to people because of where they were born and the Color of their skin… rather than complaining about people making jokes I’d much rather you feel outraged about that and do something about that… perhaps the more people do then maybe these people won’t have to die of diseases we’ve already cured…. I know they aren’t all Freddy mercury but they people too and they also have loved ones just like you… they were just unlucky to be born in the wrong place unlike you…. Use some of your privilege and have your own listen to you cause they won’t listen to me even if my skin ressembles theirs my dna doesn’t

[@normalchannel2185]

@@arnaldosantoro6812 Honestly, i'd rather have optimistic sensationalistic news than the shitshow the current news system is

[@3nertia]

@@arnaldosantoro6812 More profitable to prolong a disease rather than cure it anyway heh

[@christopherg2347]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="565">9:25</a> CRISPR is like the "Find and Replace" tool in text editors. You are better _very_ certain you get the Find part right!

[@neovoid5008]

7 minutes into the future here. We are at 7 people cured

[@blakake]

I comment 7 minutes later

[@classarank7youtubeherokeyb63]

How far are we now?

[@cryonuess]

Wow, thanks for the update!

[@ClaudiaCarranza1]

18mins into the future, the number remains unchanged

[@Corqii]

@@blakake i comment 7 minutes later

[@the_everafter]

I can only imagine the mix of emotions those seven must have had. Doctor walks in "so ive got good news and bad news, the bad news is, you have blood cancer. The good news is theres this new thing where we can replace all of your blood and it will cure your cancer AND your HIV." I know thats mega simplistic. But yeah i can only imagine the mix of emotions these seven were feeling

[@RichardSarah-s6p]

DR ABIOLA ON YT CURED ME FROM HIV I AM SO GREATFUL ....

[@jfitzpatrick6108]

A complex topic very clearly explained in lay terms! Thank you for that!

[@carpemkarzi]

Was working in hospitals when drs refused to put AIDS or HIV in a patients chart fearing the stigma, so we got things like ‘Failure to thrive’ and the like. I truly hope they can crack this horrible disease and get that number considerably higher.

[@patja89]

I wonder if you all could make a video similar to this one about treatments for autoimmune disorders, the current clinical trials etc etc

[@RichardSarah-s6p]

DR ABIOLA ON YT CURED ME FROM HIV I AM SO GREATFUL ....

[@BuildinWings]

"Only" seven, like it's not a massive breakthrough for what was once a death sentence.

[@physicsunderstander4958]

Honestly though, it's absolutely insane to think that 40 years ago this disease was equivalent to having the grim reaper knocking on your door, absolute certain death within months to a few miserable years at most. And now it's possible to live a completely normal life if you just take a pill every day. Even if we can't reliably cure it, the fact that people can live complete lives without symptoms or complications is crazy.

[@KyrilPG]

HAART arriving in the mid nineties already changed that, while not curing. Millions are already living almost normally thanks to that. The 7 that were cured had to go through something quite difficult.

[@nuuuuuuuut]

They werent implying that at all.. the fact of the matter 7 still isnt very many.

[@fletcher5148]

im pretty sure the entire point of the video was to address what a massive acomplishment we've made, i highly doubt the scishow team was making a video about dumb it is we've "only" cured 7 people

[@brightsparkey1965]

Pharmaceutical companies are working to correct this back to zero

[@enrique3055]

Thank you for your videos, man.❤

[@katherinevallo2326]

Before they tested blood like they do now I had a friend who ended up getting HIV that progressed to AIDS because of a blood transfusion. I saw how HIV affected her and how it progressed to AIDS. I was her caretaker as she died from the disease. I wouldn't wish it on anybody. I am happy that at least 7 people have been cured. I hope one day HIV will be cured for all with the illness. I love Crispr. Hopefully, it can help cure HIV one day and make it a disease of the past like smallpox.

[@inventionist172]

I remember a few years ago there were only 2-3 people cured. It keeps going up every year!!

[@MissMTurner]

I am one of the people who carries 2 copies of the CCR5 deta 32 mutation. I basically have natural immunity to HIV.

[@EVILLASER]

Resistance, sure, but CCR5 is also only one of the two known co-receptors for HIV-1. There's another co-receptor, CXCR4, which HIV-1 can use to gain entry to cells independent of CCR5.

[@AquibMohammedAyman]

Wow scishow in a different time!

[@dwirandypradhika6752]

Not me checking the comments for update on number of cured patients, mere hours after the video is up

[@TheSleepSteward]

jPeople, please sign up to whatever organization is in your country to become a stem cell donor! You can literally save a life. And it's not that hard to sign up nor is it that much work to help save a life. We desperately need new donors because there's just not enough people to cover the amount of transplants we need. The more people, the higher the chance to find a match with a donor. And some populations are more needed than others due to genetic diversity but everyone is needed from all backgrounds; you may be someone's last chance at a good life.

[@mebreevee]

If you say, have a connective tissue disorder, would they even take my stem cells? At what point do they become faulty?

[@sophiedowney1077]

Commenting because this needs to be at the top! It's really easy to become a potential donor too! All you need to do is sign up, and they send you a free kit with a q tip to swap your cheek, and then you send it back on their dime. And then if they find someone who needs it and matches your DNA, they will ask you for a donation.

[@sophiedowney1077]

​@@mebreeveeas long as the disorder is purely of the connective tissue and not of the immune cells, you might still be able to donate. You would have to look into it. And if not, donating blood (or platelets) is always good. Blood donation is one of the most efficient methods of charitable donation, because it can save up to 3 lives, for only like half an hour of your time. I decided to try donating two years ago, and then I found out that not only am I O-(universal donor and desperately in demand), but I'm also CMV -, which means that my blood is safe enough for premature babies. So now I donate as often as I am able, even though it's honestly not great on my body because I'm barely above the weight limit. But it's worth it knowing I'm helping babies. (Plus the T shirts are fun)

[@dreammaker9642]

If you saw how I exist you’d probably not want to risk catching what have but I’d give it 😂 let’s just hope my weirdness is unrelated

[@mebreevee]

@@dreammaker9642 I relate to that hard. I mostly don’t want to risk giving my kid hEDS in a 50-50 gamble or any of my slew of mental health issues should I ever reproduce.

[@KS-es5nh]

SARS-CoV-2 also attacks t-cells and causes immune system issues 💔 I hope we can find a cure for Long COVID someday.

[@samsoncooper1]

It was a big focus for health research in the late 1980s into the 2000s, not so much since 2015-2017. It has slowly been plodding along, but with lower funding than a lot of other diseases. The problem with it is that a lot of the people suffering most aren't from Western nations and as such the funding has dried up. In richer countries that suffer with the epidemic, we have seen a steady rise in funding but in poorer countries we have seen a drop-off in recent years, especially when taking into account inflationary measures. It is also important to note that nobody has been 'cured' of HIV from sub-Saharan Africa, the most effected area and that the amount of trials for research into the disease don't take place here.

[@EVILLASER]

This is a really enlightening comment. People often forget that solutions at home don't always translate to problems solved for the whole world.

[@chatbear69]

Reid gets smarter and more handsome every time I see him. Keep up the good work my man.

[@Carlos-vn4ec]

woah i had no idea that hiv was curable at all. Really inspiring to see how far we’ve come and how much effort is going into eventually cutting and eradicating hiv

[@crimsonraen]

Yay for hopeful videos! Here's hoping we can figure this one out! :D

[@parchalama]

23andMe says I have one copy of the Delta 32 mutation. Supposedly it got more common in Europe because of the plague.

[@sophiedowney1077]

You should see if you can join the national bone marrow donor registry, or whatever your country's equivalent is. You could end up curing someone else's AIDS too!

[@ArnovanWyk-q2j]

you are correct - its the result of a mutagen if I am remembering right, came about as treatment against the plague, can be reproduced today still but that has some ethical issues. about 11% Caucasians have partial or complete immunity to HIV because of the CCR 5 deficiency.

[@michelletheado]

I'm homozygous CCR5-delta-32 - I was one of the donors for UPenns "Zinc Finger" research program into a potential treatment for HIV-1. While it's a promising angle for treatment of that particular variant of the virus, it has the side effect of leaving your immune system compromised to several other viruses - most notable of which is flavivirus variants such as Dengue, West Nile, Yellow Fever, Zika, etc. It's better than nothing, but it's not a panacea :(

[@dreammaker9642]

And I’m genetically resistant to malaria because my ancestors have been dealing with it. Genetics is basically a case of the survivors bias, if a gene helps against a disease that spreads then those with it have a easier time surviving and reproducing while those who don’t well don’t…. Darwinism at its finest survival of the fittest or luckiest I suppose 😂

[@trishapellis]

The phrase "it got more common because of the plague" almost makes it sound like more people developed the same mutation after they survived the plague. When what really happened is all the people who did NOT have that mutation died, so the percentage of that mutation in the general population was much higher afterward. Language is funny.

[@平和-v1z]

Highly informational, thank you!

[@toad5545]

I wish you had mentioned the really cool research on how some snake venoms might be able to be used to prevent HIV infection. I dont know a whole lot about it and how well it would work in vivo, but i plan to study biochemistry to learn more about snake venom and its use in medicine. Its a very cool area of study, and gives us all the more reasons to be nice to scary snakes

[@qwertzuiop1230]

Wow this is so cool. I feel like living in the future. Just image what CRISPR will be able to do in a couple of decades. Makes me really glad to be studying biology

[@EVILLASER]

Just you wait until you read up on base editors and prime editors, the v2 and v3 versions of Cas9, lol

[@rloach067]

great video! slightly irritated that the captions don't fully match the audio, though. Does the person that makes the captions knows something SciShow writers don't? was the next berlin patient a "he" or fully annonymous? i do hope to see an universal HIV cure in my lifetime

[@JamesRichardsPlays]

Having been born in 1982, this is quite exciting. I got to see what has happened in the 1990's to now. This is so exciting for medical science, its information and ideas can be applied to so many other parts of our human lives. I love this stuff!

[@christopherleadholm6677]

Long time no see!

[@Cocoanutty0]

I was wondering if CRISPR would be involved. Glad to know its continuing to be a huge breakthrough.

[@KingsleyIII]

"An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure." Practice safe sex.

[@Alex-cq1zr]

Would be great if lots of politicians didn't oppose contraception or sex ed... or thought that HIV is a divine punishment and thus shouldn't be opposed

[@RobertHouse101]

Too late for those of us dying before we knew this retrovirus existed. I'm talking years. The first infections began in the 1950s. Saying to practice safe sex to them is thoughtless. Still today, people who are HIV+ get the eye of "you practiced unsafe sex," otherwise meaning you deserve it. No disease should be shamed. It's a f'ing disease.

[@jonb4155]

Tell that to the Catholic Church, who aggressively prevent the distribution of, and education about, contraceptive use in parts of the world where they have a stranglehold like the more rural parts of Africa. Coincidentally, the more rural parts of Africa are still a breeding ground for the virus.

[@IceMetalPunk]

True. But it's also important to remember that sex isn't the only way to transmit HIV. So even if everyone in the world never got sexually-transmitted HIV again, people would still continue to get HIV.

[@ironically_iconic9848]

@@Alex-cq1zrso real and so sad :(

[@LC_JSE]

How do we know it’s “cured”? As mentioned even the smallest amount in reservoirs is enough to bring it back. Is it like how ppl are “cure” from cancer? Like you go into remission for a duration and after certain time point you are “cured”? If so how long is that remission time?

[@KaizerRemix]

If we're being technical, these people are termed as being in long-term remission rather than cured. But they're extremely closely monitored with regular viral loads done so that if there's any indication that they have replicating viruses they'll restart therapy. Timothy Ray Brown (the Berlin patient) eventually passed away from relapsed cancer without his HIV returning.

[@DawnDavidson]

@@KaizerRemixthat’s very hopeful. I’m sad he passed away from his cancer, but the fact that the HIV never came back by that point is very hopeful indeed.

[@debeosakwe5966]

Watched this 7 minutes after it released. Can confirm still only 7 people cured

[@coytheboy]

41 minutes after. Bad news, still only 7.

[@CollineinfachCollinex]

still 7 here :(

[@villerintanthillith1762]

Man 8 hours and still only 7, it's joever

[@mrman6025]

Neat, haven’t been this early for sci show before. Interesting episode. Lets find out

[@jhill4874]

What about autologous stem cell transplant. This is a medical procedure that involves removing a patient's healthy stem cells, storing them, and then returning them to the patient after treatment. I've had this treatment. It's not simple and requires a minimum of two weeks in a completely sterile room while the stem cells rebuild the patient's bone marrow. This also eliminates all existing immunities like childhood diseases (chicken pox, measles, etc.) and anything you were vaccinated against. I am no longer immune to smallpox, for example. Thank goodness smallpox is no longer an issue. Polio as well. Expensive and involved.

[@JLep44]

Sadly, I remain skeptical of big pharma and fear that a cure isn’t truly their goal. There’s more money to be made by having someone take a medication every day for the rest of their life. Cures aren’t as profitable.

[@NightridingDoom]

one thing that everyone seems to miss, is that all the HIV patients that got the cure, got a mismatch of the CCR5 gene after the transplant. So HIV most likely is vulnerable to any change to that gene

[@ethervagabond]

I'm watching this 18 hours in the future. Now there's 7 people who've been cured.

[@SlimThrull]

22 hours and the number is still seven. Will check again tomorrow.

[@jim409]

Superb

[@gustavludwig9719]

7 is still bigger than cured rabies

[@CritterKeeper01]

@gustavludwig9719 True! Jeanna Giese notwithstanding, the Milwaukee protocol seems to be a failure.

[@katra5673]

That's actually not true. The number of survivors of rabies is 15.

[@UserAccount-ThisOne]

i mean it does make sense, HIV is incredibly sneaky, it literally silences your defense mechanisms and engraves itself into your DNA so it can just pop back up even if it gets completely eradicated... Rabies just boils your body and melts your brain over the span of a few weeks, even if its nowhere near as intrusive as HIV the speed that it eviscerates your body is what makes it so deadly.

[@mr_hary]

Survive rabies is to shut down the body untul the rabies pass. But its still a risk procedure

[@tatiana4050]

​@@mr_hary milwaukee is not considered valid treatment for rabies.

[@divyabasuti]

Thought Neil degrasse tyson was speaking. Listening without video😂

[@OliveAmanita2682]

I don't want to be "that person," (i love SciShow) but at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="84">1:24</a>, it's said that HIV is a retrovirus, which means it "puts its DNA into YOUR DNA" That's just a description of a virus. A RETROvirus uses RNA, not DNA. Which is what makes treating it that much harder. Shoulda been something like: "It puts its RNA into YOUR DNA" and perhaps a brief description about RNA. I don't mean to bash them or anything, but I feel like this should have been caught somewhere along the chain.

[@KaizerRemix]

Retroviruses convert their RNA into DNA before insertion into the host genome. No RNA is inserted into DNA. Most RNA or DNA viruses do not insert their genetic material into the genome amd knowing about the specifics of HIV replication isn't actually important for the topic of the video.

[@enadegheeghaghe6369]

You are wrong. HIV is an RNA virus but once it enters the human cell, the reverse transcriptace enzymes converts the HIV RNA into DNA which is then incorporated into the host cell DNA. RNA cannot bind to DNA. Scishow left out some details for simplicity but they were correct.

[@blauw67]

Viruses almost exclusively use RNA, However there are a few DNA viruses (yes DNA virus is the scientific term). So just because it is a virus, doesn't mean that it uses RNA for its replication. Now you are correct that the HIV virus uses RNA for its main replication, and I do agree they should've used, "its generic material, into your genetic material"

[@dreammaker9642]

No bud common viruses don’t add themselves to your genome only the infected cells dna causing them to stop doing what they suppose to and just make more viruses until they die and release more viruses to infect other cells… retroviruses are different as they add themselves to the cells DNA without disrupting it hence why your immune system doesn’t notice it since the cells don’t produce the brisk proteins which would normally give them away and have your immune system attack them. Instead they just stay there and when your cells divide the viral addition gets passe down too eventually infecting every new cells which other viruses don’t do. Once it’s at a certain stage then the viral DNA becomes active and starts replicating the viral proteins (which I believe is the point you switch to full blown aids) by then since the virus infected your immune system and the very Tcells in charge of nuking everything so by then your are toast and now have no immune system to speak of. Logically this is why blood cancer becomes common because there’s no immune system to stop tumours so they just run rent free and by then you are at risk from any pathogen. Now you can’t expect them to go in details on the life cycle of retroviruses cause it would take a whole fcked hour or two my like my bloody biology lectures did and honestly unless you trying to become a doctor you have no real reason to give a fck whether the virus starts its life cycle as RNA cause it makes no difference to the context of the video and would just serve to confuse people who didn’t bother getting a biology degree because they had better things to do. Those who are curious have Google and it’s free, I know you just wanted to tell use you know the difference between DNA and RNA viruses and congratulations you studied your lesson you are ready for the exam… still unnecessary information for the average Joe

[@enadegheeghaghe6369]

@@OliveAmanita2682 HIV has a reverse transcriptace enzyme that converts the HIV RNA to DNA which is then merged with the host cell DNA. Some HIV medication block that transcriptase enzyme stopping viral replication /preventing more cells from being infected

[@PlaAwa]

Haven't watched the vid yet, but I did already see the answer in the South Park episode. Thanks anyway.

[@Royce16727]

So cool… So complex…

[@arden7713]

Why did the pill <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="27">0:27</a> have an extra pill thing?

[@wanton_josh]

those are for fun days

[@asterlyons8564]

In case you need any extra meds that aren't daily. Like a take-as-needed allergy med.

[@Infernoraptor]

"It involves wiping out your immune system" Um, why wouldnt this be an option for people with fatal autoimmune diseases? Or does it not impact the specific parts of the immume system at play?

[@andyanderson2143]

"1% of certain populations" what does that mean? Which populations? What percentage is that of all people?

[@Thesillyfox3]

www.google.com/search?q=who+has+gebe+mutation+that+has+double+ccr5&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS821US822&oq=who+has+gebe+mutation+that+has+double+ccr5&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCTM1OTcyajBqN6gCFLACAeIDBBgBIF8&hl=en-US&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

[@jphysics]

Probably the population from where it was sampled. Probably more detail in that study

[@vithefirst6173]

I assume it was meaning 1% of the populations that were included in the study, though I'm not sure why they didn't just say that it was 1% of the study's sample size

[@wide-eyedeel5582]

"1% of certain populations at best." In the populations with the highest rate of the mutation, the mutation only has a 1% prevalence.

[@willalogicalwf]

The people that are immune to the bubonic plague are immune to the AIDS/HIV virus and vice versa. Both diseases attack the immune system in the same way, sooo..... Europeans or their descendants are usually the only populations with this immunity

[@richardbrooksshnee]

Forgot the other issue with crispr being your immune system can kill it. Repeated use inhibits the effectiveness.

[@CaptainChaooooos]

The money isn’t in the cure.

[@Oliver-j7l]

I wonder if any of these people had the HLA-B27 or similar genes that are a double edged sword. I am HLA-B27 positive and it comes with a greater risk of autoimmune arthritis and Ankylosing spondylitis but has found that those with HLA-B27 have a greater natural resistance to HIV

[@strategicbacon7349]

Wait, so if you have the ccr5 mutation, are you're immune to hiv, or just the latent reservoir?

[@KaizerRemix]

HIV (typically) needs to bind to CCR5 in order to enter cells that mutation means hiv can't bind and therefore cannot enter and infect the cell.

[@EVILLASER]

If you have the CCR5del32 mutation, you are *resistant* to HIV-1 infection; it's not a guarantee of immunity, but it does mean there's a lower chance of infection.

[@simonmbogo3219]

I also watch kurzgesagt they also talked about CRISPR

[@ODISeth]

Double upload day?

[@thelonenoob2489]

We need cure . We need cure. We need cure . 😭

[@princeofexcess]

Research is progressing too slowly, and we need to better assess the balance between risk and reward in medical field. It's acceptable to take calculated risks, even if it means some lives may be lost, particularly when individuals are willing to take those risks in pursuit of a cure. This doesn't imply making reckless decisions; instead, it calls for rigorous analysis that isn't solely driven by our innate fears. Human nature tends to overemphasize negative outcomes, but to make rational decisions, we must value saving lives on a nearly equal footing with the cost of losing one for the equation to be fair. While avoiding death at all costs is evolutionarily sensible, it doesn't hold up statistically or when crafting effective policies.

[@cosmodious1755]

This is a big departure from talking about Scooby Doo.

[@Bunker278]

I know I have one copy of the CCR5 mutation. Pretty sure I don't have two. I've been on the bone marrow donor registry for over a decade and haven't been called up yet.

[@DavidDylanFisher]

Couldn't you use CRISPR to excise the viral reservoir directly?

[@EVILLASER]

Good question! Short answer: not easily. Longer answer: when you're using Cas9, you have to give it a literal guide, so it knows where to cut up DNA. Since HIV-1 mutates so often, a fair number of sites will not match the guide. It's like if you were given an old map to a some place that didn't match up well after big changes to the landscape. That, plus it's unbelievably complicated to reach every single cell, everywhere in the body, infected with HIV-1.

[@DavidDylanFisher]

@EVILLASER I thought it was only the T-cells that get infected with HIV - does it worm its way into any kind of cell?

[@yipeng8164]

Bro did a factory reset on the immune system

[@gordon.sarratt]

so what im hearing is the geneva patient is just built different

[@NaifLovesYou]

Isn't the snipping technique is what Fred Hutch's Cancer Center is trying to do with HSV?

[@IceMetalPunk]

I wouldn't be surprised. CRISPR-Cas9 is a very common gene editing technique, and with herpes being a DNA virus, if you can disrupt targeted herpes DNA sequences, you can prevent herpes infection.

[@Tinil0]

That makes me wonder if anyone has the answer...Around how many base pairs total do you need to select to specify that you are targeting 1 unique location in the genome? Obviously as the length of the target string increases you will have less and less examples of that in the entire genome, but the genome is pretty damn long and I Imagine there are a lot of "GATTACA" sequences in an entire genome, so how long to statistically "guarantee" that, if the genome was random, it would only find on average a single result?

[@EVILLASER]

Dunno about a guarantee, but the two most common versions of Cas9 (SaCas9 and SpCas9) use either 20 or 21 bases. That does tend to lead to a decent number of other sites which can be targeted, which are called off-targets. The idea is to build guides that have the highest affinity for your primary target and minimal probabilities of cutting off-targets. That, and to try to make sure that even if off-targets are cut, that those cuts aren't at critical locations.

[@andyt1313]

From what I understand we have a cure no viral infection except for the relatively recent hepatitis c treatment?

[@sophiedowney1077]

It's much harder to cure viral infections, but most infections can be eliminated just with the person's immune system(and sometimes some doctors to keep them alive while they're fighting. HIV is different because the body has basically no way to fight it on its own. We have a few antiviral drugs, but they're a lot harder to make than antibiotics, because antibiotics can be targeted to a bacteria's cell membrane, or their ribosomes, or whatever. But viruses are just simple protein capsules, and they're much harder to design for. It's like if you had a locked door with 10 different passwords, but you only need to guess one to open it, vs a door with only 1 password.

[@CritterKeeper01]

2 minutes up and already 45 thumbs up!

[@Maagpiie]

Science is the so cool man, this is great news. Imagine, once this is figured out and affordable, the possibility for other diseases.

[@thomassaldana2465]

So, there is a solution here. If the bottleneck comes from the donor needing to have two very specific mutations, then we need to start human genetic modification. We don't even need to modify the genes of a full-blown person; bone marrow could be extracted, and then the cells in that bone marrow could be genetically engineered to give them that particular mutation. From there, they can be lab-grown to produce a sufficient dose, and then transplanted into the recipient. Obviously, there's more research to be done to make that process work, but the biggest hurdle is the restriction on human genetic engineering. We, as a species, need to collectively grow up a bit. Edit: So, I started typing this comment within the first minute or two of the video, and then...he started talking about the same thing I was thinking. Well, that's interesting.

[@thorthor1861]

What about crispr can't that be used to cure hiv

[@DemonEyes23]

Why not use crispr to excise the latent reservoir?

[@EVILLASER]

'Cause it gets super, ultra hard to target every single bit of viral DNA in every single cell, everywhere in the body!

[@Soletestament]

Just wondering... but wouldn't it be easier to develop the crisper / latent gene expression treatments by tackling Herpes / HPV first? Putting the one vaccine we have aside (because iirc it's only to protect against a very specific variant of HPV) it just seems to me like developing a treatment that works for lips and skin first would give scientists a lot of experience increasing the treatment's effectiveness while having relatively low risk to patients. I mean your skin is right there and visible. Where as trying to tailor the treatment for HIV first just seems harder... being as the infected cells are inside you and moving around and all.

[@winzyl9546]

I think it would be easier to not sleep with everyone you see.

[@EVILLASER]

You might think so, but what you learn about herpesviruses might not be directly translatable to HIV-1. Probably the biggest hurdle to addressing HIV-1 infection is how quickly it mutates. Where other diseases might be treatable using CRISPR-Cas9, HIV-1 is effectively a moving target. While you might learn some neat trick shots studying herpesviruses, you would get much better payoff studying HIV-1 directly. Gotta train on the moving targets if you wanna have the best chance of hitting the moving targets!

[@aalhard]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="35">0:35</a> "It'd be nice if..." But should it😮

[@raphaelgarcia9576]

How has a rogue CRISPR with gene drive not wreaked havoc already?

[@PennyAfNorberg]

While we are at it can we get the gene agains the noro-virus too? please?

[@Rigel7WasAlreadyUsed]

Can't they just program or replicate the mutation? Are we there yet? I really don't know.

[@thekarategirl5787]

I'm surprised it's as high as seven I thought it was lower

[@fynixfyre1943]

I honestly don't think its that big of risk anymore and should be rolled out as regular treatment option even if you can't get double copy donors. My argument for why is two reasons. 1. We already are on route to eliminating HiV by stopping the spread so newer cases are becoming less and less as years progress meaning its a larger group of people left just stuck taking meds. I'm afraid if we get the spread down low enough incentive for a full cure will lessen as essentially those left with it can just take pills for rest of their lives and in 100 years Hiv is a thing of the past. 2. I can guarantee anyone living with HIV right now would take this as option for treatment even if it was just experimental and it would help the scientific community get more case studies done faster and therefore actually end up getting cure full proofed potentially. Medicine needs to know when to push certain boundaries especially when they have a willing target group.

[@afungusamungus2860]

Why? Fear, we could continue the work of He Jiankui and end it in one generation

[@freemanz4051]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1">00:01</a> Did he say ... "One of the toughest TURTLES to clear? "

[@lanternlite75]

No, he said hurdle.

[@DawnDavidson]

Nope. This is not a John Green video, nor even Hank Green! 😂

[@ultimatechakra3162]

That's allot more times than I knew before this video

[@untotendaniel]

1hr in the future here, we’ve cured 7

[@vhcmwashere]

Is he using a Neil deGrasse Tyson voice filter or ??! 😂

[@venabre]

I know for a fact more than just 7 people have been cured of HIV. Back during my hematology rotation we had a patient with leukemia (I forget the exact type) and HIV. That patient was going to undergo a bone marrow transplant for his cancer, and the attending mentioned in passing that could get rid of his HIV, and talked about a couple of cases they'd had. The capability of bone marrow transplant to cure HIV has long been known. However, as stated in the video, we do not use it to cure HIV because it is not worth the risk. Medications for controlling HIV already can bring viral counts to being undetectable, and people with HIV can essentially live a normal life. The same can't be said for bone marrow transplant recipients. And as to why only 7 people are thought to exist, that simply comes down to publications. We know of the 7 patients because those were the 7 case-reports that have been published. If a case isn't reported then the wider world won't know of its existence. And ultimately since it makes no difference for the patient's life, there are areas of the world where there is just no incentive to publish a case for something that is already documented.

[@MiseriaMacabre]

Incentive for YOU. this is an education KZbin video - scishows whole point is to educate- and you can't exactly be upset at them with using the only case study examples to explain this video (the correct way to do it)

[@venabre]

@MiseriaMacabre lmao chill out. You're the only upset one xD

[@jolr3907]

By his wounds you have been healed

[@joshuaharrison9331]

Read about this today in the book the song of the cell - curious coincidence.

[@KaizerRemix]

Either I have weird timing or your team agreed with me when I said this would make an interesting video 😂

[@paulnummerzwei]

There were 7 rare cases and OF COURSE two of them happend in Berlin

[@asterlyons8564]

Becasue that's where the lab the patients were being treated is??? Its named after the location they were treated, not the location the patient lived.