Expert: World AIDS Day

Across the country, the week of November 21 to December 1 marks Canadian HIV/AIDS Awareness Week. It’s an occasion to raise awareness surrounding HIV/AIDS issues nationally and culminates in the international observance of World AIDS Day on December 1st of each year – a day dedicated to increasing awareness of HIV/AIDS issues worldwide. (Canadian AIDS Society)

Here is an expert from McGill University that can provide comment on this issue:

Chen Liang, Professor, Department of Medicine and Interim Director, McGill AIDS Centre

“A person without detectable HIV cannot transmit HIV. Since antiretroviral drugs can suppress HIV below the detectable level, treated individuals will not give HIV to others. If all HIV infected individuals are treated and virally suppressed, there will be no more new infections. With a collective effort, we believe one day in the not too distant future, just as we have accomplished with smallpox, HIV will be eradicated from the human population.”

Prof. Liang is currently the Interim Director of the McGill AIDS Centre, as well as a Full Professor in the Department of Medicine, McGill University. He is well recognized for his earlier work on HIV-1 genomic RNA packaging and particle assembly.

chen.liang [at] mcgill.ca (English)