Race for HIV cure overshadows prevention, says expert

THE CANADIAN PRESS

CALGARY—When Dr. Luc Montagnier painstakingly teased out the source of the new mysterious AIDS syndrome in a Paris laboratory 25 years ago, the very concept of the disease sparked panic in many people.

But people have become complacent and infections are on the rise even in many developed countries because they trust science will develop a vaccine or cure that, in reality, may be many years away, Montagnier said last week.

“It seems that the young generation has forgotten about prevention because they think there are cures for HIV, that it’s no big deal,” the Nobel Prize winner said after giving a talk in Calgary.
“But it is, because HIV treatment is very heavy, has to be kept for the rest of their lives, and if they are young this is really a burden.”

The rush for a cure, while important, should never overshadow the push for prevention, stressed Montagnier, who shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in Medicine with Francoise Barre-Sinoussi for identifying the virus that causes AIDS.

He disputes the idea that modern medicine makes AIDS a controllable disease.
While a cocktail of drugs can keep people alive for decades, the punishing side-effects can make life miserable, painful, or even cause death, he warned.
“In the long-term they may die not of AIDS, but of a side-effect: cardiovascular, obesity and hypertension, brain disease,” he said. “It’s still a very important disease, and it’s not a chronic disease.” This attitude even is showing up in Alberta, where, in a “baffling” trend, HIV infections have risen 20 percent over the past two years, said Amanda Chapman, communications analyst for AIDS Calgary.

Montagnier’s message of prevention is one the organization has continued to push, she said.
People should control their own actions because they can’t count on scientists making a breakthrough.

“Every single route they’ve taken has failed. Nothing has worked,” she noted.
“So it’s really risky to say, ‘Well, we think science is going to be able to find the answer for us’ when, really, all you have to do is put on a condom.”

Montagnier said it will be easier to find a cure for the disease rather than a preventative vaccine, but either option is still a long way off.