A fifth man was been reported to have been cured of HIV.
According to research published by Dr. Bjorn-Erik Ole Jensen and other researchers on Monday in the publication, Nature Medicine, the 53-year-old German man, dubbed the “Düsseldorf patient”, had undergone a stem cell transplant in 2014.
The man stopped taking HIV medication altogether in 2019. His successful case became public at the time, but researchers couldn’t definitely say he was cured.
Yesterday, that all changed. HIV is normally a chronic, lifelong disease, but the study reads,
The absence of a viral rebound and the lack of immunological correlates of HIV-1 antigen persistence are strong evidence for HIV-1 cure.
I think we can get a lot of insights from this patient and from these similar cases of HIV cure.
These insights give us some hints where we could go to make the strategy safer.”
Dr. Todd Ellerin, director of infectious disease at South Shore Health said,
When you hear about these HIV cure, it’s obviously, you know, incredible, given how challenging it’s been. But, it still remains the exception to the rule.
It is obviously a step forward in advancing the science and having us sort of understanding, in some ways, what it takes to cure HIV.”
At this time, the stem cell transplant is a complicated procedure that comes with many risks, too many doctors say to offer it as a cure for everyone with HIV.
Researchers have confirmed that a 53-year-old man in Germany was cured of HIV, the fifth person in history to escape the disease that affects 38 million. @DoctorDarienMD explains this breakthrough and correlating advancements in the trek for a cure. pic.twitter.com/aytn7s69k8
— ABC News Live (@ABCNewsLive) February 20, 2023
(via ABC News)
