Fourth person cured of HIV

A man who has been living with HIV since the 1980s is the fourth person to be cured of the disease, AIDS researchers announced on Wednesday, July 27.

The 66-year-old man named the “City of Hope” patient after the California center where he was treated for HIV after a stem cell transplant for leukemia.

He was declared in remission ahead of the International AIDS Conference, which begins Friday in Montreal, Canada.

Although the transplant was planned to treat the now 66-year-old’s leukemia, the doctors also sought a donor who was naturally resistant to the virus that causes AIDS, a mechanism that first worked to kill the “Berlin patient,” Timothy Ray Brown. , to cure. , in 2007.

The patient was not only the oldest, but also had HIV the longest. In 1988, he was diagnosed with what he described as a “death sentence” that killed many of his friends.

He has been on antiretroviral therapy (ART) for more than 30 years to control his condition.

Doctors who presented the data ahead of the International Aids Society (IAS) meeting in 2022 said the case opened up the potential for older patients with HIV and blood cancer to access treatment, especially since the donor was not a relative.

Jana Dickter, an infectious disease specialist at the City of Hope, told AFP that because the latter patient was the oldest to achieve remission, his success could hold promise for older HIV patients who also have cancer.

Dickter is the lead author of a patient study announced at a pre-conference in Montreal but not peer-reviewed.

“When I was diagnosed with HIV in 1988, like many others, I thought it was a death sentence,” said the patient, who does not want to be identified.

“I never thought I’d live to see the day I don’t have HIV,” he said in a statement from City of Hope. “I am more than grateful.”

The AIDS conference also announced an investigation into a 59-year-old Hispanic woman with HIV who has maintained an undetectable viral load for 15 years despite stopping antiretroviral therapy.

Sharon Lewin, president-elect of the International AIDS Society that convenes the conference, said it wasn’t quite the same as the City of Hope patient, as the virus remained at a very low level.

She also pointed to a “really exciting development” toward identifying HIV in an individual cell, which is “a bit like finding a needle in a haystack.”