The director of the Alan Diamond AIDS Research Center, D.Y. Ho, is world-renowned for inventing the most effective “cocktail therapy” for stopping the onslaught of AIDS. Recently, he was invited to Shanghai by Shanghai Dicenor, and on a special occasion, a reporter had a conversation with him.
Reporter: How does the “cocktail therapy” work?
He: HIV (AIDS virus) is a difficult virus to deal with. It mutates constantly, making mistakes each time it divides, and cannot replicate genetic information accurately, just like making a typing error, with no error correction mechanism. And it replicates rapidly, producing hundreds of millions or even hundreds of billions of new individuals every day, at an explosive rate. These properties allow the virus to escape the attack of drugs.
If only one drug is used, the HIV virus can survive with a small change and even become resistant to the drug, which is the basic principle of cocktail therapy. The “cocktail therapy” is the use of two nucleoside analogues and a non-nucleoside analogues at the same time, so that HIV can not escape.
Reporter: I heard that “cocktail therapy” can produce more intense side effects?
Ho: Yes, some of the drugs can give patients very realistic nightmares during the first few weeks of use, and many people are very frightened by them. There is also a side effect called fat loss – the patient loses fat tissue from the face and arms. But if you stop taking the drug, even if there is 0.001% of the virus left, the virus can come back.
Reporter: What are the consequences of improper use of the medication?
Ho: The most immediate consequence may be the side effects. Since cocktail therapy is a mixture of various drugs, the size of the side effects depends on what specific drugs the patient is taking. Some medications can cause gastrointestinal discomfort, and some give people nightmares. Some people may even be allergic to certain medications, which would require supervision by an experienced physician.
Secondly, drug abuse can also cause HIV to become drug resistant, with the consequence that a therapy will fail and the patient will once again be in a situation where no drug is available.
Reporter: In 2001, Time magazine published an opinion article that you “may be one of the few people who still believe that drugs can get rid of HIV,” and that some people have doubts about the effectiveness of drugs in treating AIDS. Do you think the “cocktail” can cure AIDS?
He: The current “cocktail” can control the HIV virus in the patient’s body, giving the patient’s immune system a chance to repair and restore function, but it cannot clear or cure the disease.
Being involved in AIDS research and treatment is like being on a roller coaster, with many intense ups and downs. Ironically, when I first chose this research project, I was still convinced that it could be cured with drugs. More than a decade has passed, during which time I have often felt helpless to do anything about it. To be honest, the emotions of doctors and patients alike tend to fluctuate in the AIDS ward. But I will never easily give up my efforts to defeat this virus.
Then he again told the famous story of the seashore: an old man and a child were walking on the beach when they found batches of fish swept onto the beach by the waves, about to lose water and die. As the old man walked, he picked up the fish and threw them back into the sea. The child asked, “You can’t save all the fish.” The old man said, “But those fish I threw back into the ocean got help, that’s all we can do.”