Lto fight against HIV and AIDS it has been going on relentlessly for decades, although we have heard less of it lately as we struggle with another virus. Currently available anti-retrovirals allow people living with HIV – the virus that can lead to deadly AIDS – to keep the infection under control. But 38 million people are infected to date, of which only 73% receive treatment. The purpose of science is to eradicate a pandemic that has been incurable for decades. Fortunately, there are also occasional ones Good news that give hope to the many infected with this disease. Like that of this healed patient.
HIV, the third person in the world cured
According to a conference in Denver, Colorado on “Retroviruses and opportunistic infections”one American woman suffering from HIV syndrome has been cured with an experimental treatment that could reinforce the battle against the virus. The lady, nicknamed “the patient from New York“- as the first cured of AIDS was”the Berlin patient” – and the third person, but the first woman in the world to have been cured of the infection.
The experimental therapy used
The therapy, carried out at New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center of New York City, was based on the blood transplant obtained from a umbilical cord neonatal. And, later on on an adult stem cell treatment. Doctors identified it in the umbilical cord blood of a newborn a genetic anomaly that made him resistant to the HIV virus and used its cells for transplantation.
An invasive therapy
The surgery was performed in 2017. Thereafter, the patient was treated with anti-rejection and antiviral drugs for 37 months after which she stopped all therapy. Spent 14 months, the virus had disappeared from the patient’s blood.
Subject to the good news, however, some doctors agree that a bone marrow transplant is not a realistic option for most patients. In fact, these interventions they are highly invasive and risky. And so they generally come offered only to people with diseases that have exhausted all other options.
Only two other cases in the world cured of HIV
There have been sonly two known cases of HIV treated so far with blood transplants from donors who carry a mutation that blocks the virus. Mutationmoreover, identified in only about 20,000 donorsmost of which are of Northern European origin.
The first, as it was called “The Berlin patient”it was Timothy Ray Brown from which, after treatment, the virus disappeared for 12 years until his death in 2020 from cancer. The second, in 2019, recognized as recovered from AIDS, confirming that Mr Brown’s case had not been just a stroke of luck, it was Adam Castillejo.
That said, however, both patients suffered from very invasive side effects. Mr. Brown nearly died after his transplant. And the treatment of Mr. Castillejo, although less intense, made him lose his hearing and subjected him to various infections during the following years.
Hopes light up
On the contrary, the woman of the last case, however, left the hospital quickly, 17 days after her transplant and she didn’t develop any side effects. The lady, who is now past middle age, had been diagnosed with HIV in 2013, but she was able to keep her levels of the virus low with antiretroviral drugs.
Then in March 2017 it came to her diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. In August of the same year she underwent a blood transplant thanks to the umbilical cord with the mutation that blocks the entry of HIV into cells. And at the moment, his recovery remains confirmed.
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