Hope for the best...

...and trust in God?

As I've noted before, we're all waiting (with more or less patience) for a cure. But is that realistic? We're often told that Islam teaches that God will provide a cure for any sickness that He inflicts upon us. Leaving open the question of why He would so inflict us, I think this statement requires a large dose of faith. There's a whole bunch of 'old' conditions for which there is still no cure.

I am often asked how long it will be before there is a cure for HIV infection. How should I respond? My 'hero'. Prof. Joel Gallant of Johns-Hopkins, often gets taken to task for the realism of his responses to such questions - see Cure. I myself believe that it is highly unlikely that I will see a cure, but then I'm quite elderly. Should I respond so directly, or offer what I see as unrealistic hope?

Dr. Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NAID) maintains that we already have a 'functional cure', in that currently available therapy can offer HIV-infected people the hope of dying of old age (or more likely other conditions, given the less than healthy lifestyle of many such people here). Is that enough? Not really, since it still requires taking potentially toxic drugs for life, and does not guarantee non-infectiousness.

The search for a cure is still needed. But like the search for a vaccine, our hope must be tempered by realism...

Babé