The most interesting news coming out of the recent Chicago Retrovirus Conference was about efforts to control HIV without eradicating it.
Eradication seems out of the question for now and perhaps control is better anyway.
Several strategies to achieve control of HIV are being explored. The most exciting of these strategies is also the most easily given to oversimplification and sensationalism. It certainly is tempting to be instantly rid of the hassles of adherence and the discomforts of side effects, without feeling guilty or self-destructive. Almost everyone who has had to stop taking antivirals for awhile has felt better in the short run-side effects are draining even if we adapt to them. It turned out that total elimination had not been achieved, though it did take the most sophisticated research techniques available to find remaining HIV in this person's body.