Researchers from Rutgers University have made a huge discovery in the fight with HIV. The drug Ciclopirox was lab tested and found to force cells infected with HIV to commit suicide.

They found that Ciclopirox could restore a cell's ability to destroy itself when infected. The drug is usually used to treat fungal infections all over the body. According to researchers, Ciclopirox combats HIV in two ways - first by blocking the ability of certain HIV genes, and then by targeting the mithochondria - which is akin to HIV infected cells and kickstarts apoptosis.

Usually a cell is programmed to commit suicide when there's something wrong in the process called apoptosis. But HIV interferes with this and protects itself and also induce vital immune system cells to destroy themselves.

The researchers tested this for 12 weeks and the virus did not reemerge.

The researchers also had success in blocking HIV with another drug, Deferiprone. The chelating agent is used to treat people with thalassemia.

“In contrast to current antiretrovirals, these medications therefore terminate the infection by HIV-1 of human lymphocytes in culture,” the authors wrote. “This finding suggests a general strategy for combating HIV/AIDS and potentially other infections: the therapeutic reclamation of apoptotic proficiency.”

The biggest advantage of using drugs like Ciclopirox and Deferiprone is that they are already on the market, and have already gone through early stage approvals. This means they can skip animal trials and straight to a larger sample size to see if the drugs are effective.

Will this cream hold the answer to the fight against HIV? Let's hope so.