“There are still a lot of efforts to be made both in terms of screening and in terms of prevention”, added Professor Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Friday on franceinfo, at the launch of Sidaction 2023.
“We can eradicate and put an end to AIDS, on the other hand for the virus itself, it will be much more complicated”declared on Friday March 24 on franceinfo Pr. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, co-discoverer of HIV, a discovery for which she received the 2008 Nobel Prize. “There are still a lot of efforts to be made both in terms of screening and in terms of prevention. It is unacceptable that in a country like France, there are still nearly 30% of people who are diagnosed at the late stage AIDS”warns the one who is also the president of Sidaction.
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franceinfo: Do you remember when you managed to isolate this virus?
Prof. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi : Of course. It is not a moment, but several moments to demonstrate that the virus is responsible for the disease. First there is the isolation in the culture and then a lot of steps to demonstrate that it is responsible for the disease.
Were you immediately aware of the scope of your discovery?
Not immediately, it’s a few weeks later. The detection of the virus was made at the end of January and it was in February when we began to realize that it was a new virus and that it could be responsible for this disease. In 1983, there were not many cases of AIDS in France, a few hundred. We had not yet taken the measure of the amplitude of the disease on the African continent. This took place later, around 1984-1985.
Did you think that, 40 years later, we were still not going to heal?
Curing the virus, probably not, but curing or eradicating the AIDS disease is quite possible. We already have the tools in hand, screening, prevention and care tools. So we can eradicate and put an end to AIDS, on the other hand for the virus itself, it will be much more complicated, but we should be able to manage to have treatments that allow people to control their virus after stopping any treatment. That would already be a big step.
Are the rare cases of recovery good news? One of them is the result of a bone marrow transplant. Is it for everyone?
It is not a treatment that is possible on a large scale. Marrow transplants are performed in people who have cancer or leukaemia. This is not feasible on a large scale, however, these are important steps to try to understand why these people manage to control their virus. AT From these results, we can imagine strategies for the future. It’s a step. The more cases like this we have, the more we will try to understand and develop new strategies.
170,000 French people live with HIV and there are 5,000 contaminations per year. How do you explain this drop?
A while ago, we were at 6,000 cases, we are now at 5,000 cases. Pay attention to these figures, because there has been a delay in screening due to the Covid epidemic. So far, we’re pretty stable. There are still a lot of efforts to be made both in terms of screening and in terms of prevention. It is unacceptable that in a country like France, there are still nearly 30% of people who are diagnosed at the late stage of AIDS, when we have all the tools.
How do you explain that ? Are young people more affected?
The first reason is because the information no longer passes very well. There are of course the young people, but there are also the over 50s. Often we hear that “it does not matter because there is a treatment”. People have not yet realized that it is a treatment for life, that it is not easy to take it every day, that over the long term a small percentage of people develop what are called comorbidities non-AIDS such as cancers, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes. So it’s not that simple and that’s why the people concerned are waiting for us to find a drug that we can stop.
Do we need more resources in AIDS research?
We always need more means for research, it’s easy to say, but we also need more young researchers who are interested in research on AIDS. They don’t just shun AIDS research, they shun science. Fewer and fewer young people are interested in research and science. The Covid epidemic has had a negative impact, in addition to which entering a career as a scientist is an obstacle course. The salaries are not at all high and beyond the salaries, you have to have a job. To have a statutory position, it’s an obstacle course because there are very few positions.
How do we give and where do these donations go?
All you have to do is make a donation on sidaaction.org or call 110. These donations go to AIDS research and support associations that support people infected with HIV.