Report: New treatment rids monkeys of HIV-like virus

Researchers at the Oregon Health & Science University primate center say that a new treatment destroyed an HIV-like virus in two newborn monkeys in only two weeks. Monkeys cannot get HIV, so the scientists had to create SHIV, a hybrid that was made up of HIV and the simian immunodeficiency virus, the equivalent of HIV in monkeys, notes the Daily Mail. The researchers also mass produced anti-HIV human antibodies in a lab. Those antibodies — the treatment — were injected into the newborn monkeys on days one, four, seven and 10. When the monkeys were tested 14 days later, both of the simians were clear of the SHIV virus, according to the scientists. The researchers said their study was a “significant development” in the medical fight against HIV. “We knew going into this study that HIV infection spreads very quickly in human infants during mother-to-child transmission,” Dr. Nancy Haigwood, author of the study, said. “So...