In recent years, news about HIV and AIDS has died down, but researchers are still striving to find treatments for the deadly illness.

“With continuing research I am hopeful that at some point we will have a preventative vaccine [for HIV and AIDS],” said Rebecca Fritzsche, staff physician at the Student Health Center.

Gwyn Beattie, assistant professor of microbiology, said AIDS causes infected people to lose protection against disease.

“Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a disease in which the immune system breaks down, and consequently people become susceptible to opportunistic diseases,” she said.

Beattie said opportunistic diseases are infections that are rarely observed in people with normal immune responses.

Fritzsche said people with AIDS die of these illnesses, not from AIDS.

AIDS was recognized in 1981 when there was a rise in opportunistic infections within certain population groups, especially homosexuals and IV drug users, Beattie said.

“Human immune deficiency virus (HIV) is the causal agent of AIDS,” she said. Researchers think it came from African green monkeys and evolved into a highly virulent form in humans in central Africa during the 1950s.

The time that it takes for an HIV infection to progress to full-blown AIDS varies greatly, she said.

“Most people are without symptoms for seven to 10 years,” she said.

Fritzsche said there is a small group of gay men who were diagnosed with HIV in the 1980s who have never gotten AIDS.

“We want to prolong the interval before people get the disease,” she said. “Maybe a cure will be found before they get AIDS.”

Fritzsche said in the 1980s the mortality rate for AIDS was extremely high, but that it has gone down in the past five years thanks to new medications that can delay the onset of AIDS.

“Now we have strong antiretroviral medications that we often start before [HIV patients] are even diagnosed with AIDS,” she said.

Fritzsche said that in a few cases where patients were treated early with these drugs, HIV couldn’t be found in their blood after treatment.

Fritzsche said now physicians can provide more effective treatment by combining several of these medications that attack the virus at different stages.

Currently, an AIDS vaccine is being developed in Africa, she said.

Beattie said it is difficult to make a vaccine because the part of the virus recognized by the immune system mutates rapidly.

Other treatments are being developed to help lessen some of the symptoms of AIDS, such as muscle deterioration.

Steven Nissen, professor of animal science and founder of MTI Biotech Inc., invented a nutritional product called Juven that has been on the market for two years.

“It basically targets the weight loss that occurs with a number of diseases,” he said. The main goals of the product are to slow down muscle breakdown and to stimulate the synthesis of muscles.

Nissen said he recently received a $100,000 grant from the National Institute of Health to continue research concerning muscle loss in AIDS patients.

Juven, which is available over the counter, is fairly inexpensive when compared to other HIV and AIDS drugs.

Paying for these medications can be a challenge for people who don’t have insurance with prescription drug plans, Fritzsche said. In certain cases, they can apply for financial help from the social services.

Fritzsche said she wishes that the prices of these drugs were lower, but she realizes that it does cost a lot of money to make and develop them.

“I think it’d be great if we could somehow provide these drugs for free to everyone,” she said.

She said researchers continue to make promising progress on new drugs.

“People should be hopeful because more drugs are currently being developed with fewer side effects,” she said.

Until a vaccine is found, Fritzsche said prevention is the most important thing.

“Once you’ve got it, you’ve got it until we have the cure,” she said.