Montreal researchers make breakthrough discovery in fighting HIV [Video]

Researchers in Montreal have made a breakthrough discovery in HIV research by finding a way to expel the virus from its hiding places and destroy it.

The elimination of these “reservoirs” is probably the last hurdle still to be overcome before we can hope to defeat the disease, but it’s a major challenge, warned Professor Eric Cohen, whose team at the Montréal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM) is behind this breakthrough.

“This is the new frontier in HIV research,” he said. “HIV is no longer a fatal disease, it’s a chronic disease that can be managed with lifelong treatment, but the new frontier is really about finding ways of eradicating the infection, of curing [infected people] so that they no longer have to take medication.”

Taking antiretroviral drugs allows people with HIV people to lead essentially normal lives, but only for as long as they take their medication regularly. If the …