This year's International AIDS Conference will be held in an atmosphere of cautious optimism, as experts say new developments in anti-AIDS medicines and treatment techniques could signal "the beginning of the end" of the epidemic, dpa reported. After a San Francisco man became the first person infected with HIV to apparently have the virus removed from his system, through an AIDS-immune gene he received in a bone marrow transplant in 2011, new hope has arisen that a vaccine or cure might be possible. In the more immediate future, significant advances in current antiretroviral therapies have reduced transmission of the virus and made it possible for those infected to live longer, healthier lives, experts said Tuesday at a press conference. Providing universal access to anti-AIDS drugs and increasing funding for vaccine and cure research will require large international monetary and political commitments, however, at a time when the global economy is struggling and austerity is squeezing government budgets. The conference will be the first to be held in the United States in 22 years. In 2009, the Obama administration removed a travel ban, which had been in place since 1993, on people infected with HIV from entering the country. -- SPA
