June 1, 2008 — Infectious disease experts designed a machine called the hemopurifier. It works much like a dialysis machine, using thin fibers to capture and remove viruses from the blood it filters.
The machine requires the drawing of blood through an artery, which is sent through a tube into the machine, then back into the body. It can treat a number of illnesses. Every day, 14,000 people are infected with HIV, the virus that leads to AIDs. There’s no cure, but now a breakthrough — a machine that could clean blood, keeping more and more people alive longer.
“I remember lying in bed thinking, ‘I am going to die. I’m going to die. I feel so sick.’ And I remember thinking laying in that bed, ‘And I know exactly what it is,’” HIV patient John Paul Womble, told Ivanhoe. HIV could kill Womble. He watched his father die from the virus and now he is living the rest of his life with it. “I’ve got to live as healthy as I can, but this virus is not going to control me,” he says. Now, a machine could help clean Womble’s infected blood and keep him healthier, longer. Read more…
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