There is a group of human mutant who are virtually resistant to HIV infection. They have a mutation called CCR5-Δ32 which make their T-Cells impervious to HIV.
They tried using this to cure HIV but it failed. They gave patients gene therapy that tried to convert their CD4+ cells, but only about 30% of cells were affected.
Since HIV uses CD4+ cells to breed, leaving 70% of the cells vulnerable did not stop the spread of the virus.
In order for HIV to be cured they will have to find a way to either convert the remaining cells or kill them off to leave only the protected cells.
This appears to be the only remaining step to curing the disease, but Im not aware of many or any groups working on solving this problem. After the tests failed it looks like they just gave up.
The only time anyone has been cured was when their entire bone marrow was killed using cancer treatment and they were given marrow transplant of someone who was immune. But this is pointless because patients who get transplants live shorter lives than people with HIV, and they actually have to take more drugs than HIV patients do, in order to avoid rejecting the transplants.
So the only way to cure HIV is to find a way to make the gene therapy work better.
A free press needs more than the right to publish. It needs the right to know. @GitobuImanyara argues for ending unjustified secrecy and putting public information in public hands, where it belongs.
Read his piece in The Platform’s October issue. https://t.co/8i7ssEjJQI
“I have known the joy and pain of friendship. I have served and been served. I have made some good enemies for which I am not a bit sorry. I have loved unselfishly, and I have fondled hatred with the red-hot tongs of Hell. That’s living.”
~ Zora Neale Hurston
Zimbabwean writer Simbarashe Steyn Kundizeza has been announced as the 2026 Caine Prize winner for his outstanding short story, ‘The Blue Fighter’, published by The Shallow Tales Review in 2025.
Read his short story via the link in our bio.
#CainePrize26
“Social death brackets how gender is explored by afro-pessimism and serves as the analytic to theorize the structural antagonism between Black women and white women.” Patrice D. Douglass. Engendering Blackness, p. 106
You don’t owe the world total comprehension. You don’t have an obligation to fully understand people, societies, or the human condition beyond what is required to function decently. But the moment you decide to understand and judge people, their actions, histories, pains, incentives, and failures, the standards rise sharply.
At that point, partial understanding becomes more dangerous than ignorance. Especially when the subject is human beings. Because bad explanations do not remain abstract; they leak into how you treat others. They give you confidence without compassion, and judgment without depth.
You cannot, for instance, conclude that people are “stupid” for staying in situations that harm them simply because you believe you would choose better. Almost everyone including you has lived through moments where they knew the “right” action and still did not take it. And in those moments, the explanation was never simply, I didn’t think or I was stupid. Even when poor judgment plays a role, it hardly ever explains the whole story.
What was present instead was probably inertia, fear, attachment, loss aversion, hope, identity, sunk emotional cost and all other forces that resist movement even in the presence of clarity. Stupidity alone does not survive honest introspection.
That, then, should be your epistemic test. If your theory of human behavior cannot explain your own conduct in your weakest moments, it is not a serious theory of other people. It is a strategy for moral distance, a way of placing yourself above the mess you are still very likely part of.
“Sexuality for Black women exists under erasure, where she is devoid of a body. Womanhood for the white woman serves to shield her deputized position within the white racial order as structurally enabled.” Patrice D. Douglass. Engendering Blackness, p. 106
Honoured to have co-authored with @ProfKibwana. Our article argues that the 2010 Constitution is a people’s manifesto and should guide in demanding accountable and transformative governance.
My sincere gratitude to Prof. Kivutha Kibwana for trusting a young scholar
It takes sheer courage to procrastinate. You either have an insane amount of faith in your last-minute abilities, or you are simply unbothered by the consequences of inaction. Either way, you’ve sure got some guts.
I went to Riara Law.
From where I sit, the video doesn’t simply depict “bullying”. It’s physical violence, verbal assault & emotional abuse.
Dare I say that away from cameras, it may have been worse. It’s probably also not be the first time, it’s just the time they were caught.