In an interview with a Liverpool radio station, Elton John's partner has predicted that a cure will be found for AIDS within the lifetime of their adopted son Zachary.
The disclosure comes after David Furnish , 49, was suddenly taken-ill while accompanying his life partner, Elton, on a concert tour of Australia.
Furnish, Chairman of the Elton John Foundation, revealed that he believes the disease can be conquered this century, in a pre-recorded interview with Pete Price on Radio City 96.7.
The interview was scheduled for broadcast after 10pm on Thursday 1st December - World AIDS Day.
Co-incidentally, the broadcast comes just hours after Furnish jetted out of Australia on a 7,500-mile journey to Los Angeles for emergency medical treatment.
Elton, 64, was said to have considered cancelling the tour, which began in Sydney last week in order to accompany Furnish, but decided to remain in Australia.
The couple, who entered a civil partnership in the UK in 2005, took Zachary, who will be one on Christmas Day, to Australia with them.
In the interview with Pete Price on Radio City, Furnish spoke of advances that have been made in the battle with HIV-AIDS infections
Furnish said: "We are now at the point where treatment equals prevention.
"We have just had some very encouraging research results come through about retro-antiviral drug treatment.
"We found that people who go on the treatment reduce the risk of passing it on to another person by 94 per cent - that's almost a cure.
"We also know that with these drugs we can prevent mother-to-child transmission.
"If a mother who is HIV positive is not treated they will almost certainly pass the virus on to their new born baby.
"But with the retroviral drugs we can virtually reduce the viral load in the mother down to the point where she doesn't pass it on.
"So we're now starting to feel that with these great advances we will probably see an end to AIDS in Zachary's life time."
He added: "The end is definitely in sight, but there are a lot of hurdles we have to get over before now and then - the biggest being that this is still a hugely stigmatising disease."
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