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Doctors report seventh person likely cured of HIV

Doctors report seventh person likely cured of HIV

by Gaby Agbulos

AS of July 2024, the seventh case of a potential HIV cure has been announced.

Announced during the eve of the 25th International AIDS Conference by researchers, a 60-year-old German patient has been found to be free of detectable HIV for almost six years after he stopped undergoing Antiretroviral therapy back in 2018.

The health website Helio reports that three years prior to stopping therapy, he received a stem cell transplant for acute myeloid leukemia, and was labeled the “next Berlin patient.” 

This is in reference to Timothy Ray Brown, the first person to be labeled HIV-free following a bone marrow transplant that had been done to treat his leukemia. 

Helios notes that, in the past, other patients received stem cells from donors with two copies of a rare genetic mutation that made them HIV-resistant. They are referred to as homozygous. 

The latest cured patient, however, received a transplant from a heterozygous donor, which meant that they only had one copy of the mutation that prevents HIV from entering human cells. 

This thus broadens the possibilities in terms of stem cell transplants, as both donors with two copies of the cell or one can be used for future reference.

Another case in the past – a man in Geneva who received a stem cell transplant to treat the rare, aggressive form of leukemia he had – also showed that patients could also survive with transplants from donors who did not have the mutation at all.

While the German patient has not yet been labeled as cured, according to Christian Gaebler, MD, MSc, a professor of translational immunology of viral infections at The Charité medical university and hospital in Berlin, it is a potential cure. 

“I’m very optimistic that there will be eventually a cure,” he said in an interview with Helios.

“For me personally, as a scientist, by seeing that these cases are possible, it does give me hope. My feeling is that the community feels the same way.  But I also agree that we shouldn’t overpromise, and we need to be careful that we’re not taking away thunder from all the other exciting science that is going on.”

He adds that at present, researchers are making major strides with regard to this topic, and there have been many cases of long HIV remission with passive immunotherapies. 

Eventually, by integrating all the scientific advances that have been made thus far, they will come to find a cure for the disease eventually.

Not a death sentence

It can be noted that this form of treatment is a painful and dangerous procedure, and is often only done for people who have both HIV and aggressive leukemia. 

In the Philippines, there have been 110, 736 cases reported as of January 2023. In this same report entitled “The State of the HIV Epidemic in the Philippines: Progress and Challenges in 2023”, it is expected that these numbers will increase by 200% from 158,400 in 2022 to 364,000 by 2030.

What people living with HIV need to remember, though, is that even if there is no exact cure yet for the disease, it is no longer the death sentence it once was.

Now, you can get tested for HIV for free at any Love Yourself center near you. If ever you test positive, you can start getting treatment for HIV, which can be done either via pills or by shots. 

More and more treatment hubs and primary HIV care facilities are being established in the country, and many facilities try to teach people to follow the ABCs for HIV prevention, otherwise known as “Abstinence, Being faithful, and Condom use”. 

In a recent episode of “Drag Race Philippines”, contestant Myx Chanel discusses how when she was diagnosed as HIV positive in 2021, she wasn’t scared because she knew that there was medicine for it. Six months following her diagnosis, her viral load had become undetectable.

“I want to show to the world how strong and beautiful people living with HIV can be,” she said. 

“It’s not the disease that’s killing anymore. It’s the fear of people to come out about it.”

Myx Chanel’s words are a reminder to those living with HIV that their diagnosis should not be seen as a hindrance to how they live their daily lives. 

More than this, it is not something you should feel ashamed of, nor is it something you should shame others for. 

If you or someone you know has been diagnosed with HIV, help to educate them on the steps that they can take in starting their treatment. Help will always be available. 

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