Economist articles, blog examine research presented at AIDS 2012 conference

The Economist on Friday published two articles from Saturday's print edition regarding the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012). One article states that "[f]ew areas of international affairs have seen more recent success than the fight against AIDS," and discusses advancements in HIV treatment research and availability (7/28). A second article provides a recap of several studies presented at the conference, notes "some people are starting to look beyond [current] antiretroviral (ARV) drugs," and writes, "Several clues suggest a cure may be possible" (7/28). In a related post, the Economist's "Babbage" blog reports on new tuberculosis (TB) research presented at the conference on Monday, which "found that a combination of one experimental drug, one drug approved for other infectious diseases and one existing TB drug had a comparable effect to standard TB treatment," suggesting "the combination may fight some TB strains resistant to other drugs -- and do so quite quickly" (7/26).