Thursday, March 6, 2014

“Early Treatment is Found to Clear H.I.V. in a 2nd Baby,”

Citation: McNeil, Donald G., Jr. "Early Treatment Is Found to Clear H.I.V. in a 2nd Baby." New York Times 5 Mar. 2014. Print.

  In the New York Times article, “Early Treatment is Found to Clear H.I.V. in a 2nd Baby,” by Donald G. McNeil Jr., the news from an AIDS conference is announced that a second baby that was born with H.I.V. was cured. In 2013, there was once similar case in while after thirty hours of aggressive drug treatment, the baby was cured. Now that a second child is believed to be completely cured, a clinical trial will begin that examines sixty infected babies after their immediate 48 hours on the drugs to see if a new protocol should be put in place for children born with this infection. As the executive director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony S. Fauci said, “this could lead to major changes, for two reasons…Both for the welfare of the child, and because it is a huge proof of concept that you can cure someone if you can treat them early enough.” The first cured child is now three years old and from Mississippi and the second from California who is nine months old both continue to test negative for H.I.V., and although doctors cannot technically call them cured because they are both still taking the drugs, any trace of the illness are gone. 
The topic of H.I.V. has been prevalent in the world since its outbreak in 1980s and the disease has been known to not have any viable cure. The possibility of a cure for children born with H.I.V. could change the impact of the disease and end the cycle of the infection. Although it will take a few years for scientists to be 100% sure of the drugs’ success, just the chance of changing the lives of some victims is outstanding. 
           I thought that this article was written very well and relevant. It was presented in a way that even someone who has not been following the H.I.V. discussion could understand. McNeil gave background on both of the children whom have been “cured” and with that information the reader was able to feel more connected to the topic. The possibility of finding a cure for newborns with the horrible infection of H.I.V. would be revolutionary and I can only hope that future trials have similar success. 

13 comments:

  1. My comment is for Lilia’s review of the New York Times article, “Early Treatment is Found to Clear H.I.V. in a Second Baby.” Firstly, Lilia presented well the background of the HIV virus and its breakout in the 1980s. Secondly, she thoroughly explained the new process of treating infected babies. A third aspect of the review that was well-presented was Lilia’s own personal reflection of the article because she specified exactly what she appreciated about the article. To make the review even better Lilia could have put the information about H.I.V. and its prevalence at the beginning of her review as more of an introduction, rather than in the middle. I appreciated Lilia’s quote integration so perhaps she could have included more references to the article as the quotes really enhanced the review. This review taught me a lot because I was completely unaware that there had even been a first baby who had H.I.V. cleared after early treatment. I was impressed with this breakthrough and am curious as to how beneficial it may become in the future.

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  2. I think that Lilia did a great job reviewing the article, “Early Treatment is found to Clear H.I.V. in a 2nd Baby”. She discusses a clinical trial has now cured another baby of HIV. Lilia did a good job giving background on the topic by discussing how H.I.V. broke out in the 1980s. Also, Lilia does a really good job summarizing the article and only including the important stuff. I also thought that Lilia’s paragraph about the importance of this scientific revelation and how she discusses what the author does well and doesn’t do well. I thought that the information she took from the article was very interesting. For example, she said, “Now that a second child is believed to be completely cured, a clinical trial will begin that examines sixty infected babies after their immediate 48 hours on the drugs to see if a new protocol should be put in place for children born with this infection.” I did not know that H.I.V. is something that can be cured. I also thought it was interesting that she said this cure in babies could end the cycle of the disease.
    However, I think that she could have included some more information about the research or the experiments on how the scientists cured H.I.V. For example, she could have provided the scientists information and how he discovered this cure. Also, it would be interesting to include some specific quotes from the scientist to help the reader better understand his point of view. Overall, Lilia’s review was very interesting and I learned a lot about how this cure for H.I.V. could impact the world.




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  3. Lilia did a great job summarizing and analyzing the article “Early Treatment is Found to Clear H.I.V. in a 2nd Baby.” Firstly, she did a great job putting direct quotes from the article into her summary. This helped the reader better understand the summary. Secondly, she did a great job giving background on the topic by talking about HIV during its first major outbreak in the 1980's. Thirdly, she did a good job thoroughly explaining the experiment without putting much unneeded information into her description.
    Although Lilia did a great job overall, I think there are a few things that she could've improved upon. I think she could've included more quotes to really make her review better. Quotes would've enhanced the review by giving it more credibility and explaining aspects of the article better in direct wording. Also, if Lilia had included more background information in the beginning of her review, I think that would really lay out a good foundation for the review which would make it a lot easier to understand.
    I was very impressed that science has come so far that scientists are actually making steps towards curing HIV. Although it is not complete yet, I think this experiment shows that there is in fact progress being made, and this can give us hope for a better future.

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  4. I read Lilia Briskin’s review of the article, “Early Treatment Is Found to Clear HIV in a Second Human Baby.” I really liked how Lilia explained the article well and gave us a clear idea of what the original author was trying to communicate. I also liked how she picked such an important topic because HIV/AIDS has ended millions of lives. Finally, I enjoyed how she related the scientific information to society today by explaining that an aggressive drug treatment may become the new protocol for infected newborn babies.
    Although she did a great job overall, I wished Lilia could have included more background information because I personally had no idea that an HIV-infected parent could pass the infection on to their child. I also do not know a lot about what types of treatments are available for patients and their potential children, so that would have been helpful. I also wish that I could have known more about the bioethics behind treatments for newborns with HIV. Was the doctor putting the child’s life at risk by starting an aggressive drug treatment at birth? Additionally, was the California baby cured in a similar manner? Overall, Lilia did a good job.
    This topic is relevant to society because AIDS has wiped out an entire generation. Not only the terminal diagnosis and hellish death of AIDS, but also the fear and social marginalization of AIDS patients has made it distinctive from the diseases that our generation has fought. When I hear of someone diagnosed with AIDS, I immediately that their days a numbered. However, after this discovery, there is hope for the future.

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  5. I read Lilia’s review of the article, “Early Treatment is Found to Clear HIV in a 2nd Baby.” There were several aspects of her review that I enjoyed. One was her overview of the article. I thought that she did a good job of giving the reader an idea of what the article was discussing. Not only did she give the positive side of the article, but she also discussed the possible obstacles that scientists would have to overcome until they can find a definite cure. Another part of her review that I liked was her incorporation of the quote from Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the executive director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, because it helped support her opinions regarding the issue, as well as give testimony of an expert in the field that the article is based on. A third part of her review that I thought was well-done was her conclusion, which nicely summarized what she believed the research concerning HIV could ultimately lead to.
    While the majority of her review was very skillfully completed, there are a couple of things that could have been improved. I wish that she included more information about the procedure involved to “cure” HIV in these babies, as well as why it might be second-born children who are able to be cured. Another aspect that I think could have been improved was the support of her summary. While she did include one quote, her review would have been stronger if she had added one or two more quotes.
    One thing I learned from this article was that there had even been one case where HIV had been eradicated from a human. I agree with Lilia in that this is a huge step in finding a cure for HIV, and that there will be more significant news regarding this topic in the near future.

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  6. I thought my peer Lilia Briskin did a great job reviewing the New York Times article, “Early Treatment is Found to Clear H.I.V. in a 2nd Baby.” One thing I think she did well was the incorporation of direct quotes from the original article. I think this helped the reader getting a better grasp of the article and furthered understanding. Another thing I think she did well was giving a solid background and overview of the original article. Sometimes, in review, I feel as if the article was rarely touched up and it is difficult to know what the article was about. However, Lilia nullified any chance of this happening. I final thing I think she did well was relating the article’s topic to modern society. With a dangerous disease like H.I.V. running rampant, I think it is fantastic that we are making strides to appease the threat.
    One thing I think Lilia could have done better was the incorporation of more outside thought instead of reciting the article. I felt that could get slightly redundant. Another thing I think she could have improved was further explanation on the background of H.I.V. and how it originated, as this was unclear.
    I was impressed by the strides modern medicine is taking in finding a resolution to the H.I.V. epidemic. I did not know we would find a cure for this devastating disease so quickly and efficiently. Hopefully, all keeps going well.

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  7. Clear H.I.V. in a 2nd Baby.” I thought that she did a great job summarizing the article, making it clear and easy to understand. At the same time, she made sure to keep her summary brief and to the point, a combination that is very important when writing summaries. I thought that Lilia also did a great job of explaining both the impact of the disease, and the affect that this cure could have. HIV/AIDS is such a powerful and destructive virus, and by explaining the impact of the cure, Lilia is able to really capture the reader’s attention. A third thing I thought she did really well was using quotes directly from the article. Quotes really help to strengthen an argument, and are almost imperative in a summary. I thought that Lilia could have put in a little more of her own analysis and opinion at the end of the article. I think that she also could have given more specific details on the curing process. What drugs are the scientists using? When will mass curing begin? Who is leading the charge? Besides that I thought that Lilia did a great job summarizing “Early Treatment is Found to Clear H.I.V. in a 2nd Baby.” I had no idea that two children had already been cured of HIV/AIDS. I had always thought that this virus was incurable, so it is amazing to find out that such improvements have come about.

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  8. After reading the review of the article “Early Treatment is Found to Clear H.I.V in a 2nd Baby,” I now know a lot more information about the possibility of a drug to fight the malicious disease, HIV. Lilia did a really effective job of summarizing the article and telling just enough information so I knew what was happening in the article but it also wasn’t an overload of information that was hard to follow. Also, I liked how Lilia talked briefly about the history of AIDs because it helped me understand why finding a drug to fight this disease would be so incredible. Finally, another element that Lilia included that really improved the review was her use of quotes in summarizing. Knowing what the experts are saying about the topic really helps the reader understand the situation better.
    One thing that I wish there was more of is critique of the writing style of the article. Lilia included a lot of good information about the content but there was not much included about the article way the article was written. She started to mention it in the last paragraph but next time I hope she expands that analysis. Also, it would be awesome if she included the symptoms of HIV so the reader would have a better idea of what this harmful disease does to victims and why a new drug would be so outstanding.
    One thing I learned in this summary was that babies could get HIV. I never knew that a baby who’s only a couple months old could be infected. I thought that only adults could get the disease, but apparently babies who are only a couple months old can be infected. Overall, this summary was really interesting and I learned a lot about the future of science in curing HIV.

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  9. I read Lilia’s review for the article “Early Treatment is Found to Clear H.I.V. in a Second Baby.” There were some great aspects about Lilia’s review. Upfront, I liked how Lilia connected the issue to our world. This could mean a cure for thousands of people in the years to come. And once an affordable cure is created we will be better able to help the thousands of children plagued with HIV in Africa. Another aspect I liked was the topic of the article. Since the movie “Dallas Buyer’s Club” has been released more people have begun to take interest again the cure for HIV. Finally a third aspect that I liked was how Lilia clearly explained the future plans the scientists have for other babies. The sixty infected babies will truly show effective the cure will be on the masses. One aspect that I thought could have been improved upon was the background on HIV. I believe a more in depth story of how it affected the US and its transformation from it being thought of as the “gay disease” to a disease anyone could acquire would have been impactful. I also thought that Lilia should have incorporated more quotes. Quotes give the reader an idea of how the author feels and also would help support Lilia’s review with facts. Finally one thing I learned that was interesting was that the babies who have been cleared of HIV are not in fact ‘cured’ because they are still on the drugs. It will be interesting to see how long they are required to be on the drugs and if they stop taking them will the disease return.

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  10. I read Lilia’s the review of the article “Early Treatment is Found to Clear H.I.V in a 2nd Baby.” One thing that Lilia did that I liked is she incorporated the quotes in very nicely. For example, “this could lead to major changes, for two reasons…Both for the welfare of the child, and because it is a huge proof of concept that you can cure someone if you can treat them early enough,” was very important for the reader to know, yet it was said well in the original quote. Lilia did a really good job of summarizing the article and telling just enough information so I understood the article, however it was not confusing enough that I didn’t understand it. The third thing that Lilia did well was that she about the history of AIDs that helped to explain why finding a cure to this disease is such a great discovery.
    One thing that I wish there was more of is critique the article itself. She explained a lot about the actual discovery and its significance but did not focus on the writer of the article and how he wrote it. Aside from the critique, Lilia could have explained more about the discovery itself. She told us that it what effects the cure could have but how exactly did they develop this treatment to stop HIV.
    One thing I learned in this summary was that babies could get HIV. I never knew that a baby who’s only a couple months old could be infected. I thought that only adults could get the disease, but apparently babies who are only a couple months old can be infected. Overall, this summary was really interesting and I learned a lot about the future of science in curing HIV.

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  11. I read Lilia’s review of, “Early Treatment Is Found to Clear HIV in a Second Human Baby.” I thought that Lilia made the background of the HIV virus and its breakout in the 1980s very clear and easy to understand. She summarized the article very well and made sure to include all of the key facts form the article. Also, I thought that Lilia did a good jobs writing about the importance of these studies and the effect that they could have one people around the world. She explained what the author did well and didn’t do well, which I thought was good. Lastly I thought she did a good job putting quotes from the article into her summary.
    Although overall it was good there is stillroom for improvement. I think that she could have said more about the drug and how it worked and if there were any cases where they tried it and failed. Lastly she could have said a bit more in general and just fixed some grammatical errors.
    I really liked this article and review because it’s a very important topic in todays society, especially since there is currently no sure cure.

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  12. I read Lilia’s summary of “Early Treatment is Found to Clear HIV in a 2nd Baby” by Donald G. McNeil Jr.. I thought Lilia did a great job in explaining the background of this case and the one that occurred in 2013. I enjoyed how she also went into details about the children that were cured, not just about the experiment. Another thing she did well on was explaining how important this is to our lives. Sometimes I forget about problems like this because we live in a bubble and this article gave a strong sense of reality and how many problems like this are in the world. The possibility of a cure is remarkable. A third thing I thought Lilia presented well was her opinion about the article, because I agreed with many of the statements, because I do not follow the H.I.V. discussion but I could still understand a lot.
    Although Lilia did a great job there were a couple of things I thought she could’ve improved on. In her last paragraph she put the word cured in quotation marks and that really confused me, because I thought the whole point of the article was that the children were cured. I just wonder what that was supposed to imply, or if she was just quoting the text. The other thing I thought she could’ve improved on was using another quote. In article’s like this I usually look for 2 quotes just to enforce that these comments are based off of an article, and I think it is interesting to incorporate the author’s words into our reviews.
    Like I stated earlier, I don’t follow the H.I.V. discussion so it was surprised to learn about the advancements scientist’s are having with curing it in children. The fact that they could have a definite cure in the near future is outstanding.

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