NASSAU, BAHAMAS — With a second HIV patient being cured without stem cell treatment or medical intervention, Director of the National HIV/AIDS and Infectious Disease Programme Dr Nikkiah Forbes said yesterday that the study of the “very rare” case “very promising” towards the research of a future cure.
According to the Annals of Internal Medicine, an Argentinian woman naturally achieved a “sterilizing cure” of HIV with no signs of the virus in her body eight years after she was diagnosed.
The woman, who was first diagnosed in March 2013, received no regular treatment for her infection, but her body apparently rid itself of the virus
According to Forbes, some long-term non-progressors with HIV do not experience weakened immune systems over time.
“It does not replicate; they don’t get sick; it may not be passed on and they naturally have suppressed viral loads,” she said of these cases referred to as “elite controllers”.
“Their viral loads are low, very, very, very low.
“Now this particular lady — not only is she in this category of persons that their own immune system appears to take care of the HIV virus, there is no signs of actively replicating HIV in her body.
“There is only one other patient like that, that has been described.
Neither patient, the Argentinian woman nor 67-year-old woman Loreen Willenberg received any medicine or intervention such as stem cell transplantation.
There have been two cases of stem cell transplantation where the patients were cured of HIV, but it has not been able to be replicated.
“If they (the two women) can be studied to find out how it is their bodies are able to do this, that may bode well for scientific advancement for an HIV cure because up to this time we don’t have a widely available one, so there are ongoing studies going on definitely, Forbes said.
“It’s very rare, but the fact that she has been studied and there isn’t any identifiable replicating HIV virus in a number of her cells, placenta, and blood is very, very promising.
“If we can get a better understanding about that scientifically that may be a good basis for research into a cure. That’s very important to know about this report.”
The woman in the latest study had no antiviral treatment until 2019 when she became pregnant, using the drugs tenofovir, emtricitabine and raltegravir for six months during her second and third trimesters.
Researchers analyzed blood samples collected from the patient between 2017 and 2020.
The woman had a baby in March 2020, allowing the scientist to also collect placental tissue.
It remains unclear how the patients’ bodies were able to get rid of the replicating virus, but scientists believe a combination of different immune mechanisms could have contributed.
Next best thing
Forbes encouraged the public and those impacted by the virus not to be discouraged.
Antiviral medication keeps HIV from replicating and keeps the viral load undetectable, which stops the virus from being passed on.
“As easy as one pill a day someone can reach the gold standard of HIV treatment. If HIV positive, the virus will not be making copies of itself and the immune system will not get weakened, and the person will not get sick, and cannot transmit HIV once that viral load is undetectable and will live a long healthy life.
