Leading scientists revive hope of eventual AIDS cure, issuing a research road map to get there

WASHINGTON – For years it seemed hopeless. Now the hunt for a cure for AIDS is back on.

International AIDS specialists on Thursday released what they call a road map for research toward a cure for HIV. It’s a strategy to direct global teams of scientists as they explore a number of intriguing leads, clues that came from reports a few years ago of the first man apparently cured of HIV infection thanks to a complex treatment for leukemia.

Dr. Steven Deeks of the University of California, San Francisco, says the research won’t be easy — and it will take years.

But the International AIDS Society released the strategy ahead of the world’s largest AIDS conference this weekend, saying it was time to try.