Beware Of Fake HIV AIDS Cures
There is no cure for HIV or AIDS.
Although antiretroviral therapy (ART) suppresses HIV replication and delays disease progression for many years, it cannot clear the virus completely from an infected host.
This is due to the persistence of HIV reservoirs that are stable under effective ART and not influenced by it.
Sadly, this doesn't stop quacks announcing unproven, sometimes dangerous, HIV cures to desperate patients.
Distrust of Western medicine is not uncommon and some patients only see the constraints and toxicities of ART and forget that these drugs are saving their lives.
Unproven HIV cures have been around since the beginning of the epidemic.
Fake cures have sometimes caused direct harm as they contained industrial poisons or toxic herbs.
It is important to remember that words like "natural" and "herbal" are no guarantee of safety.
They have also undermined HIV prevention, as people believing they are under a cure are less likely to take precautions.
Below are some examples of the fake HIV cures:
Others provide fake publications of their studies in unknown journals.
Some promoters of 'HIV cures' rely on anecdotes, or personal testimonies.
This is not a scientific way to demonstrate things.
Personal testimonies are notoriously untrustworthy.
There have been cases of people being paid to pretend they've been cured..
..
but some patients need to believe in magic and they use it.
The reality is more abrupt: there is currently no HIV cure...
and always consult an expert first!
Although antiretroviral therapy (ART) suppresses HIV replication and delays disease progression for many years, it cannot clear the virus completely from an infected host.
This is due to the persistence of HIV reservoirs that are stable under effective ART and not influenced by it.
Sadly, this doesn't stop quacks announcing unproven, sometimes dangerous, HIV cures to desperate patients.
Distrust of Western medicine is not uncommon and some patients only see the constraints and toxicities of ART and forget that these drugs are saving their lives.
Unproven HIV cures have been around since the beginning of the epidemic.
Fake cures have sometimes caused direct harm as they contained industrial poisons or toxic herbs.
It is important to remember that words like "natural" and "herbal" are no guarantee of safety.
They have also undermined HIV prevention, as people believing they are under a cure are less likely to take precautions.
Below are some examples of the fake HIV cures:
- Ozone therapy has been proposed as a treatment or cure for many illnesses, including HIV infection.
Usually it is done by removing in part a patient's blood, exposing it to ozone, and then putting it back into the patient.
We have seen some quacks using it in Western Europe for 20 years although scientific publications have demonstrated it had no effect. - A series of 'immune stimulants' have been on the market for several decades, some of them claimed to boost the immune system and make it kick out HIV.
None of these molecules have been tested in serious clinical trials following the standards of medical research.
There have been con artists structured to promote and sell their products under the counter and threaten those who wanted to denounce them - A series of putative 'antivirals' that either have no effect at all, or kill HIV in test tubes but not in humans, or would do it by killing the patient too!
- Some devices supposed to kill HIV via magnetism or electricity.
Others provide fake publications of their studies in unknown journals.
Some promoters of 'HIV cures' rely on anecdotes, or personal testimonies.
This is not a scientific way to demonstrate things.
Personal testimonies are notoriously untrustworthy.
There have been cases of people being paid to pretend they've been cured..
..
but some patients need to believe in magic and they use it.
The reality is more abrupt: there is currently no HIV cure...
and always consult an expert first!
