What is not known about HIV and what research is being done?

            Having been identified in the early 1980's, HIV is a relatively new virus and a lot is not known about curing it. Majority of the research done on the virus has been fueled by the millions of lives it threatens to end.           

            There exists a number of treatments to deal with HIV aids. They vary in substance and when they are effective. Though there are methods for fighting the HIV virus, it has been going through Charles Darwin's natural selection. The frequency of HIV strands which are immune to older medical technologies is increase. There is MUCH RESEARCH being done to find new methods of dealing with HIV virus. Some of the newer methods include synthetic antibodies that neutralize HIV viruses. There are many such drugs which are in research phase but have not yet been approved because of uncertainty on its effects on health. There is also more research being done to discover new methods to deal with HIV virus that is within the cell. These methods include not only applications to inhibit the viral protein, they also include creating proteins which attack the viral RNA by detecting its sequence.   

            A lot of research is also being done to increase the safety and usability of HIV drugs. Some HIV drugs are harmful to other organelles in cells such as the mitochondria.

             Surprisingly, even though there are many methods to slow down the progression of HIV virus, there is no true "cure" for it. There are many hypothetical methods that are yet to be tested and experimented in the lab. These hypothetical methods include creation of a non-harmful virus which competes with the HIV virus and decreases the number of HIV infected cells. The "blank virus" could posses reverse transcriptase like the HIV but the DNA that replaces the HIV DNA could be non-coding DNA. Other possible cures include creating effective substitutes for the T-Cells that are lost to the HIV virus.

Are there any drugs that are currently being researched?

"The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association lists nearly two dozen new anti-HIV drugs now in development. They include new protease inhibitors and more potent, less toxic RT inhibitors, as well as drugs that interfere with entirely different steps in the virus' lifecycle. These new categories of drugs include:

     Entry inhibitors - drugs that interfere with HIV's ability to enter cells.

     Integrase inhibitors - drugs that interfere with HIV's ability to insert its genes into a cell's normal DNA.

     Assembly and budding inhibitors - drugs that interfere with the final stage of the HIV life cycle, when new virus particles are released into the bloodstream.

     Cellular metabolism modulators - drugs that interfere with the cellular processes needed for HIV replication.

In addition, scientists are learning how immune modulators help boost the immune system's response to the virus and may make the existing anti-HIV drugs more effective. Therapeutic vaccines are also being evaluated for this purpose and could help reduce the number of anti-HIV drugs needed or the duration of treatment." (Yahoo. COM)