The first woman in the world to be cured of HIV

The woman was treated for leukemia. She has had a stem cell transplant from someone who is naturally immune to the virus that causes AIDS. The patient has not been diagnosed with a virus for 14 months.

For the first time, doctors are talking about the use of a transplant as a treatment for HIV. The selected transplanted cells have a specific genetic mutation, which means that they cannot be infected with the virus.

At the same time, experts say that the widespread use of umbilical cord blood in this indication may be too risky for the majority of people diagnosed with HIV. Sharon Lewin, president of the International AIDS Society, warns of over-enthusiasm sparked by recent reports, saying that a transplant will not be a real cure for most people living with the virus. The question is whether this medical approach will bring us any closer to curing 37 million people living with the disease, most of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa.

The potential of stem cell transplantation was demonstrated in 2007, when Timothy Ray Brown was the first person to be cured of HIV thanks to a transplant. This action has since been repeated twice: with Adam Castillejo and now with a patient from New York. All three had cancer and paradoxically, curing them of HIV has never been the primary therapeutic goal.

The findings of this latest case study have not yet been reviewed by clinicians.

Source: BBC