US doctors say they appear to have cured a girl born with HIV, after very early drug therapy treatment. The child from Mississippi, who is now 2 years old, has been off medication for about a year with no signs of infection.
Dr. Deborah Persaud, Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, said, "And at last follow up we’ve been unable to detect replication-competent virus at 10 months off of anti-retroviral therapy. And the child remains off of anti-retroviral therapy and is doing well. So we believe that perhaps the initiation of very early anti-retroviral therapy prevented the formation of the viral reservoirs in central memory CD4T cells that are the barriers to a cure... and really sets the stage for a pediatric cure agenda going forward."
Doctors say there’s no guarantee the girl will remain healthy, although sophisticated testing uncovered just traces of the virus’ genetic material still lingering. If so, this would be the world’s SECOND reported cure.
Specialists say Sunday’s announcement at a major AIDS meeting in Atlanta, offers promising clues for efforts to eliminate HIV infection in children. A doctor gave the child faster and stronger treatment than is usual, starting a three-drug infusion within 30 hours of birth. That fast action apparently knocked out HIV in her blood before it could form hideouts in the body.
