Researchers set goals to help successfully eliminate HIV

Although it has been 30 years since U.S. medical experts recognized the first case of HIV, research into vaccines, treatments and a cure for the disease are ongoing. However, many advances have been made in terms of HIV prevention and care in the past three decades.

Now, researchers have published three main goals in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine to help ensure that progress continues to be made in this field.

First, the scientists wrote that one ambition is to identify greater numbers of HIV-infected people who are in earlier stages of disease progression. This may be achieved through widening the reach of voluntary HIV testing programs and referring patients to the proper medical care.

While antiretroviral therapy is currently the main avenue of treatment for individuals with HIV, the second goal is to eliminate the need for these types of medications by creating innovative approaches to curing the disease.

Lastly, the researchers indicated that they hope to ramp up the integration of available HIV treatments and use previous studies to establish more effective methods of prevention such as vaccines and microbicides.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 1.1 million Americans are living with HIV.