HIV and AIDS cure news 2016: Doctor who first reported about AIDS says cure is possible

Dr. Michael Gottlieb, the UCLA immunologist who first reported about the AIDS virus 35 years ago this month, believes that a cure for the dreaded disease is on the horizon.

After working against HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) and AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) for more than three decades, Gottlieb now says that the knowledge scientists and doctors have acquired about the virus and the disease has brought humanity on the precipice of a cure.

The age of the AIDS epidemic dawned with Gottlieb's report for CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) in 1981. In his initial case report, the doctor wrote about a mysterious lung infection in five previously healthy gay men in Los Angeles. After his report was published, physicians from other major cities across the United States also reported about patients dying with similar symptoms.

From those five cases identified by Gottlieb, HIV and AIDS have now killed millions of people around the world.

But while the virus was a complete medical mystery just 35 years ago, now scientists are talking about the possibility of a cure — a huge milestone for the medical community.

"We have learned an amazing amount about HIV," Gottlieb told NBC News. "I have seen those very first patients who were so deadly ill. And I'm now witnessing the good health of our average person today — that has been a miraculous experience."

While AIDS can definitely still kill a person today (if it is left untreated), the treatment doctors and scientists have come up with means that an HIV diagnosis no longer equates a death sentence. Medical science has also radically lowered the chances of an HIV patient undergoing treatment transmitting the disease.

Recently, there appears to have been another medical research breakthrough in the battle against HIV and AIDS.

A new study by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center has shown that pharmacologically enhancing the immune systems of HIV patients has a significantly positive effect in the elimination of HIV cells.

"The current model of HIV treatment can help manage symptoms and increase the quality of life for patients, but it is not a cure," said Dr. Peilin Li, the study's lead author.

"It is important to strengthen the body's defense system against the virus," he added, as quoted by Medical Xpress. "By boosting immune response, the body will be able to kill cells in the latent HIV reservoir that are still capable of producing HIV."