October 19, 2018 BY imani leave a comment
Doctors believe six people afflicted with HIV have had the virus eliminated from their body and one may even have been completely cured of the virus, according to a study published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. The study was carried out by scientists from the Institute of AIDS Research in Barcelona and the Gregorio Marañón Hospital in Madrid, Spain, and gives new hope to developing a reliable HIV cure.
The success was achieved by using stem cell transplants. After the transplants, none of the six patients had the presence of HIV detectable in their blood and tissues after the treatment. One patient did not have any HIV antibodies either, suggesting he may have been completely cured of the virus.
The stem cells used for the HIV treatment were obtained from umbilical cords and the bone marrow. The patients are still on antiretroviral drugs, but the scientists think the source of the stem cells used and the length of time it took for the recipients’ bodies to completely replace their cells with the donor cells may have resulted in completely eliminating HIV. In one of the six patients, it took 18 months for the body to adopt the donor cells.
With the success achieved with this study, the researchers hope the treatment can be replicated to develop an HIV cure that is reliable and widely available.
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