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suppressing one. Without available evidence to support such a statement it stands as conspiracy theory. Additionally, while AIDS itself is diagnosed by conducting a CD4 (Helper) T cell count in a blood sample and is sometimes criticized for not directly testing for the presence of HIV, it is used to monitor the functioning of the immune system - a test that would necessarily follow various other tests indicating the presence of HIV. The two most frequently used tests are generally conducted in conjunction with one another; the ELISA test is verified by the Western Blot procedure, and is considered to have an accuracy of approximately 95%, which includes the risk of a false-positive outcome. So while the tests aren't infallible, they're still quite reliable. There is a time window between infection and identification that lasts approximately three months and up to six, but beyond that the tests are good.

The biggest problem facing the development of a cure for HIV (which would allow the immune system to recover, and AIDS to be alleviated) isn't politics, or disingenuous doctors. Certainly, prohibitive research and testing costs as imposed by the FDA, as well as powerful lobbying on behalf of 'Big Pharma', probably stall the development of a vaccine (at least in the US) and are valid concerns that need to be addressed. The difficulty lies in the virus itself, and the fact that it can replicate so quickly, and that the best type of treatment we have (a cocktail of anti-retroviral drugs that are intended to keep HIV from adapting to any one in particular) is costly, has serious side effects, and can't do much more than stall the virus. If you miss a daily dosage, there's a chance that the virus could develop resistance to the drug in that short a time span, and you wouldn't really know until the symptoms worsened. While there have been numerous vaccines that had promising results in the phase-1 trials (in carefully controlled conditions in a laboratory) virtually none of them have been yet able to deliver anything near that promise in phase-2 (real world) trials.

Thus, until a vaccine is successfully tested and administered, the most people can hope for is to halt the progress of the virus. This implies, in addition to the anti-retroviral drugs, living an extremely healthy lifestyle geared to bolster the immune system - meaning regular exercise, a strictly regimented diet, and being meticulously conscious of hygiene to avoid contracting any diseases. It's not an easy lifestyle to maintain, but until our medicine advances, it's really the best chance that a HIV-positive person has.

Learn more about this author, C. Mackenzie.
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