The cure: views of people with HIV

Fred Verdult. Photo © IAS/Ryan Rayburn - Commercialimage.net

The views of people with HIV about what makes a cure desirable must be taken into account during research into possible cures, Dutch research shows.

A total of 458 people with HIV were asked what they found most difficult about living with HIV and what would make a cure desirable. The results of this research were presented at the Towards an HIV Cure symposium at AIDS 2012.

Uncertainty about the future, the fear of infecting others, and the stigma associated with HIV were all rated as highly undesirable factors of life with HIV.

Approximately three-quarters of those surveyed said that they thought a cure for HIV was very important.

But their enthusiasm for a cure declined as levels of uncertainty about its effectiveness and the risk of transmission to others increased.

Almost all the respondents thought that a cure that eradicated HIV with no risk of future transmission of infection was desirable. But only 14% of patients considered a curative treatment that involved the need for regular check-ups to make sure that the virus had been eradicated was a desirable option.