As Reported By Stephanie Stahl PHILADELPHIA (CBS)

A scientific first from Philadelphia could pave the way toward curing HIV.

Instead of suppressing and treating HIV and AIDS, which is what currently happens, researchers have for the first time shown they’ve found a way to destroy the virus.

“Basically converting infected cells to un-infected cells and that is very important because the current therapy cannot eliminate the virus from cells,” said Dr. Khalili.

“We have a cure for HIV elimination.  We have a system to eliminate HIV from the cells in the laboratory,” said Dr. Khalili.

“Very exciting, it’s very exciting,” said Dr. Khalili.

Dr. Khalili doesn’t have a time frame on when this discovery could be in clinical trials.  There are so many variables.

Important Statistics

Thirty-three-million people are recorded as having HIV in the world. One million are in the United States. Every year 50,000 Americans contract the virus.