The Malaysian Airlines that crashed in Ukraine contained as many as 100 of the world's leading HIV/AIDS researchers and the effect on the battle against HIV could be devastating. The plane was shot down in eastern Ukraine by what's believed was a surface-to-air missile. The AIDS 2014 conference was due to start on Sunday and is being held in Melbourne.
'There's a huge feeling of sadness here, people are in floods of tears in the corridors,' Clive Aspin, a veteran HIV researcher who attended the pre-conference plenary session in Sydney, told Guardian Australia. 'These people were the best and the brightest, the ones who had dedicated their whole careers to fighting this terrible virus. It's devastating.'
Prof. Richard Boyd, director of the Monash Immunology and Stem Cell Laboratories, told Guardian Australia added: 'There were some serious HIV leaders on that plane,' he said. 'This will have ramifications globally because whenever you lose a leader in any field, it has an impact. That knowledge is irreplaceable. We've lost global leaders and also some bright young people who were coming through. It's a gut-wrenching loss. I was involved in the aftermath of 9/11 in New York and it brings back that level of catastrophe. But the Aids community is very close-knit, like a family. They will unite and this will galvanise people to strive harder to find a breakthrough. Let's hope that, out of this madness, there will be new hope for the world.'
Trevor Stratton, an HIV/Aids consultant, told the ABC: 'The cure for AIDS may have been on that plane, we just don't know. You can't just help but wonder about the kind of expertise on that plane.'
Many leading scientists, including a former president of the International AIDS Society (IAS) who has been active in HIV research efforts since 1983. The official numbers haven't been confirmed yet. The organisers of AIDS 2014 said in a statement: 'The IAS is hearing unconfirmed reports that some of our friends and colleagues were on board the flight and if that is the case this is truly a sad day.'
The president of the IAS, Fran oise Barr -Sinoussi, told a prearranged event in Canberra that the deaths 'will be a great loss to the HIV/Aids communities. If confirmed, it would be a terrible loss for all of us. I have no words really to try to express my sadness; I feel totally devastated if it is confirmed.'
The conference will however go ahead as scheduled.
What is HIV/AIDS?
HIV/AIDS is a disease that affects the human immune system. AIDS is the final stage of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection. If an HIV positive person is left untreated, his/her condition deteriorates into full-blown AIDS where the immune system stops working. Thus the immune system is unable to protect the person from diseases or infections. The virus can be transmitted from an HIV positive person through the exchange of body fluids. This can happen through sexual contact, blood transfusion, needles or from a mother to child during pregnancy. Though there is no cure yet, antiretroviral treatment has proven to be very effective. Read: HIV causes, symptoms, treatment and more
With inputs from IANS
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