Is HIV Curable?

Despite more than 35 years of research, scientists have yet to find a cure for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV): the virus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has been a major breakthrough that does help suppress the virus, but it’s not a cure. And while there have been a few well-publicized cases in which HIV was said to have been cured-including that of Timothy Brown, aka the Berlin Patient-there has yet to be an approach that can consistently and safely eradicate HIV on an individual basis, much less a global scale. Even so, progress is being made.

Challenges

There are several reasons why finding a cure for HIV/AIDS has been such a long road of challenge after challenge. HIV is such a complex, multifaceted, ever-changing virus that it makes it difficult to keep up with.

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During the Canada Post strike announced September 25, 2025, the following measures will be undertaken to minimize service disruption to BC-CfE clients and providers.

  • The BC-CfE Laboratory has transitioned to private courier for delivery of outgoing reports and documents. Results required urgently can be faxed upon request. (Lab Contact Information: Phone 604-806-8775; FAX 604-806-9463)
  • The BC-CfE Drug Treatment Program (DTP) will fax outgoing forms and documents to the provider’s office. (DTP Contact Information: Phone 604-806-8515; FAX 604-806-9044)
  • St. Paul’s Hospital Ambulatory Pharmacy has transitioned to private courier for delivery of medications. We recommend requesting medication at least 2 weeks in advance in case of delivery delays, particularly to rural/remote parts of BC. (Contact Information: Phone 1-800-547-3622; FAX 604-806-8675)

During the Canada Post strike, we recommend that documents be faxed or couriered to our sites, versus utilization of regular mail service

The BC-CfE Laboratory is streamlining reporting processes for certain tests in order to simplify distribution and record-keeping, and to ensure completeness of results. Beginning September 2, 2025, results for the ‘Resistance Analysis of HIV-1 Protease and Reverse Transcriptase’ (Protease-RT) and ‘HIV-1 Integrase Resistance Genotype’ tests will be combined into a single ‘HIV-1 Resistance Genotype Report’.
For more details and example reports, please click on the button below

Laboratory Order Forms

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