Hiding Place for AIDS Virus: Testicles

You have AIDS, take antiretroviral pills — the ones that have revolutionized HIV treatment over the past decade or so — and push the levels of virus in your blood down to zero. Sounds good, right? Sort of. Even when medications zap AIDS in the blood, it’s still in the body, waiting to come back […]

You have AIDS, take antiretroviral pills -- the ones that have revolutionized HIV treatment over the past decade or so -- and push the levels of virus in your blood down to zero. Sounds good, right?

Sort of. Even when medications zap AIDS in the blood, it's still in the body, waiting to come back to life. Now, researchers think they have a better idea of where the germs are hiding:

The French work in the American Journal of Pathologysuggests the gonads provide an ideal environment for the Aids virus toreplicate itself.

Evidence shows even the best antiretrovirals find it difficult to penetrate the testes.

This may explain why HIV can still be found in the semen of men on drugs that successfully clear their blood of it.

This makes me wonder: Might it be possible to improve an AIDS patient's chances by getting rid of his testicles? It's obviously extreme, and few are going to be wild about this approach. But could it help eliminate the virus for good?

Men's testicles 'HIV hiding spot'[BBC]