A 42-year old man in Germany is now free of any sign of HIV after a stem cell transplant to treat his leukemia. Apparently the donor of the stem cells had a naturally occurring genetic trait that helped resist HIV. This trait is referred to as CCR5 delta32. CCR5 is a type of receptor that HIV uses to attack the body, however a small percentage of people have CCR5 delta32, which makes them have resistance to HIV.

While this procedure was considered a miracle it is unlikely that mass stem cell transplants will occur any time soon. First of all, according to Dr. Jay Levy, a professor at the University of California San Francisco, about a third of the patients die from this procedure. Even so, the addition of CCR5 delta32 does not “cure” you of HIV, it only prevents it from attacking, the person is still carrying the disease, but not being adversely affected, theoretically. However some doctors believe that within 5 to ten years this could lead into a form of gene therapy to benefit those infected.
So while we have not cured HIV/AIDS, we still have to imagine what if they eventually do. First off, yeah a few millions around the world will be treated and possibly get to live longer, but what about the rest of us? Think about it, what will happen to the “LOL YOU HAVE AIDS” internet memes, or that picture of a photo shopped game of RISK. No longer will we be warned not to shoot up drugs because we might get HIV from an infected needle…..
Wait a second; they treat it with stem cells, so never mind, we don’t have to worry about this treatment coming into existence because Stem Cell Research is already under the gun. So what if it may lead to a cure for AIDS down the road, we have to protect the embryos donated to science by consenting individuals!
Besides, it wouldn’t matter if we cured AIDS, everyone focuses on cancer anyways.