A woman from Argentina appears to have recovered from HIV without treatment or medication the 2nd documented case from its kind in the world. Doctors assume that the patient’s immune system clears the virus on its own.
According to the archives for internal medicine, tests on more than a billion of their cells revealed no solid traces of infection. If the procedure can be used, experts say it could offer a way to eradicate or treat HIV effectively. The result is further evidence that some people are born with a natural resistance to HIV.
Some have genes that prevent infection. Others including an “Esperanto patient” who did not want to be named – appeared to have caught the virus but later destroyed it. Most people with HIV, however, need lifelong antiretroviral therapy (ART). Also if they stop taking these drugs, the sleeping virus can wake up again and cause problems again.
Adam Castillejo from London managed to stop taking his daily HIV pill after receiving donor stem cell treatment for cancer, which he also has. A London patient recovering from HIV, doctors say.
His HIV-infected cells are destroyed and replaced during cancer therapy.
Fortunately, the donor is one of the 1% of people born with a gene that prevents HIV from entering cells and infecting them. However, it is unclear how long this lead can last for Castillejo. But the Esperanto patient had no detectable HIV for more than eight years.
Lorraine Willenberg of San Francisco also appears to be functionally cured of HIV with her immune system. And it gives hope for a “sterilization cure” for other patients. The leading researcher, dr. Sue Yu of the Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. And Harvard said, “There may be effective ways to sterilize treatments for people who cannot do it themselves.
Oxford University professor John Frater told News that while it is nearly impossible to know if someone has recovered from HIV. Researchers have “done as much as can be asked of them with current technology” to help prove this.
“The real question is whether this patient is completely cured or has some form of infection the abortion tried to initiate, but the embers were extinguished early,” he said.
“His immune system indicated that he was infected, so there seemed to be no doubt that it was him. “However, there may be similar patients who have a lot to learn in finding a cure for HIV. Prof Sarah Fiedler, an HIV medicine expert at Imperial College London, said the work would help educate the developed immunotherapy.
Dr. However, Andrew Friedman of Cardiff University School of Medicine said current HIV drugs are highly effective. While looking at future treatments is essential, increasing access to life-changing ART worldwide is an urgent priority.
