an HIV cure with foot cream

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

An HIV cure from foot cream?

“What?” That was my first reaction when reading the headline, but the idea is mind boggling, exciting, and almost overwhelming. Glad someone came up with the idea, of experimenting with an HIV cure from a common foot cream. Check out this article written by Elizabeth A. Moore for www.cnet.com:

In a study performed at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, not only does the drug Ciclopirox completely eradicate infectious HIV from cell cultures, but unlike today’s most cutting-edge antiviral treatments, the virus doesn’t bounce back when the drug is withheld. This means it may not require a lifetime of use to keep HIV at bay.

Okay, so this has not been tested on actual people yet, but again, I find the thought absolutely mind boggling and exciting. I remember as a child, the mere mumble of the word HIV or AIDS (back then the terms were incorrectly used simultaneously) meant a death sentence.

That was back  when “safe sex” was initially being discussed in schools via health class. There was so much resistance and hoopla about this topic in school, let alone schools handing out condoms! That took a few more years for some bold administration to attempt. I can remember friends discussing if someone knew they had it, they could not understand why that person would  want to live in our society with the shame and isolation.

HIV cure from foot cream?

Do you remember the movie, “Philadelphia” featuring Tom Hanks? That was the first HIV conversation on the silver screen that got a lot of attention that I can remember. It certainly gave me a view and perspective that I could not fathom on my own.

So, to now see an article on a possible HIV cure is really crazy to me right now (in case you weren’t sure how I really felt). There were so many stereotypes around this disease and narrow thinking, and to some extent still has not left our communities and societies. That is the beauty of celebrities using their fame to take on this delicate, sensitive topic.

 Possible HIV cure with foot cream

Now, I am hoping our American F.D.A. and pharmaceutical companies do the right thing and ALLOW this to hit the market. Although with the changes happening with Obamacare, not really sure how that would affect the millions who are currently infected, just in the United States.

The implications this HIV cure globally, again I find astronomical. We have lost GENERATIONS to this disease in parts of the world, that would offer a  fair chance to these communities have lives and families again.

How many of us share news about someone in our family suffering or dying of cancer, but we rarely, if ever openly discuss if a loved one is affected by HIV. They are both diseases, yet a stigma still attached to a disease that is more than 40 years old. Below  you’ll find a video with a tribute to some we have lost in the battle against this disease. Enjoy the video. Remember the pain some of these people endured due to our ignorance as a society, then remember their family members who are still here.