The short answer: it's highly plausible, but there's still a shitload of medical tests they need to do before they can come up with a unanimous "yes."

The long answer: according to researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine, bee venom -- which is apparently some sort of wonder drug for all of the many wonderful things it does for the -- can potentially be used to kill HIV cells. Specifically, nanoparticles infused with the cytolytic melittin peptides found in bee venom are specialized enough to destroy the protective membranes around HIV without killing surrounding cells.

For the experiment, Wickline's team prepared free melittin and melittin-loaded nanoparticles and set them against various strains of HIV (CXCR4 and CCR5 in particular). The researchers then showed that melittin, when delivered in these large and free accumulations, can make life miserable for the disease.

[...] Unlike other approaches, which work to prevent HIV from replicating, Wickline's technique involves the degradation of the virus's structure. "We are attacking an inherent physical property of HIV," said Joshua L. Hood through a university statement, and a co-author of the study. "Theoretically, there isn't any way for the virus to adapt to that. The virus has to have a protective coat, a double-layered membrane that covers the virus." [SOURCE]

Somewhere between the baby cured of HIV last week and this breakthrough, science is kind of kicking HIV's ass here. Granted, the practice still needs to be refined for widespread medical use, but still, way to pick up the pace there, science. You guys do not fuck around. 

Thanks to advances in retroviral medication, HIV has become a manageable virus, albeit one that you'd probably rather avoid. The good news is that HIV/AIDS is no longer a death sentence; the bad news is that it requires a daily cocktail of medication to keep under control, which, for those without healthcare plans, are nigh impossible to afford.

There is, however, a silver lining here: in an unprecedented medical case, an unnamed child born with HIV has been "functionally cured" of HIV. For the sake of clarity, "functionally cured" means that the virus cannot be detected in the patient's blood stream using any modern-day testing (although some traces of the virus can be found in the body -- hypothetically, in the spinal and ocular fluid), and the child has, amazingly, remained undetectable without the use of retroviral medication.

Dr Hannah Gay, who cared for the child at the University of Mississippi medical centre, told the Guardian the case amounted to the first "functional cure" of an HIV-infected child. A patient is functionally cured of HIV when standard tests are negative for the virus, but it is likely that a tiny amount remains in their body.

"Now, after at least one year of taking no medicine, this child's blood remains free of virus even on the most sensitive tests available," Gay said.

"We expect that this baby has great chances for a long, healthy life. We are certainly hoping that this approach could lead to the same outcome in many other high-risk babies," she added. [SOURCE]

So basically, doctors have found a way for seropositive people to remain undetectable (inasmuch as science has been able to detect) without resorting to a life-long regimen of medicine. That being said, this is a unique case thus far, and it's only worked on a child, so whether or not this will work on adults is up for debate. Still, this is a remarkable step nonetheless.

Good news, everyone! Science has made another tiny, gradual step toward one day finding a functional cure for HIV. Thanks to an incredibly complex procedure that involves molecular scissors (sidenote: BADASS), scientists at Stanford University have developed T-cells that are resistant to HIV. 

According to a Stanford press release, the procedure uses molecular scissors to cut into T-cells, and then insert a series of HIV-resistant genes. The virus was therefore blocked from entering the cells, which is typically how it invades and then destroys the immune system. 

Scientists also anticipated the ever-mutating forms of HIV by engineering the cell on multiple fronts to become resistant to the virus. Matthew Porteus MD, an associate professor at Stanford explained that by also inactivating the receptors that the virus typically uses to enter cells, the cell becomes even further protected.

"We can use this strategy to make cells that are resistant to both major types of HIV," he said. This tailored gene therapy could reduce or replace an HIVer's daily drug regimen, but clinical trials would still have to take place before the approach can be administered on humans. [SOURCE]

So let's break down what this means: for someone who's HIV-positive, being given HIV-resistant T-cells would probably be a preferable method of treating HIV to taking a daily regimen of pills.

As it stands, this would really only serve as a method of treating HIV rather than curing it, although theoretically speaking, if it was possible to make all of a person's T-cells HIV-resistant -- which would be incredibly difficult -- then we would be able to make them immune to HIV. Once again, science isn't at the point where it can convert all of a person's T-cells like that, but still, it is a pretty remarkable step forward. 

As the title suggests, today is World AIDS Day, and in recognition of the day, HIV/AIDS and safer-sex awareness ads have been released all over the world. Possibly the most jarring one of all comes from Germany, and it features . . . Actually, you know what? I'm just going to let this one speak for itself:

Yup. Say hello to that awkward moment when you realize you just saw Hitler having sex. Think about that next time you think it'll be fun to go condom free.

Seriously, LOOK AT THIS.

For most of us (and good god, I hope it's most of us), chances are we already know that you can't get HIV or AIDS from playing hide and seek. And please try to avoid the lame hide-and-seek sex jokes. I know, we all already have one in our heads. Let's just leave 'em there and move on.

But the sad thing -- even sadder than this ad -- is the fact that there are still kids, and even adults, who are so uneducated about HIV that they think skin-to-skin contact is a way to contract the disease. There are people who don't understand that a simple condom can drastically reduce the risk of getting HIV. And there are a lot of people who don't know how effective antiretroviral medication is for not only reducing the risk of transmitting the disease to others, but also for suppressing it in the body of someone who's affected so that the damage is lessened. Hell, most people who contract HIV today will actually have normal lifespans as long as they take their medication.

We're lucky that we live in an era where HIV is, if not a curable disease, one that is at least manageable. If you're responsible and you don't run into any bad luck (accidents do happen), then you can avoid HIV. That being said, we still have to educate ourselves enough not to treat those with HIV with less respect.