US doctors cure child born with HIV
Source: The Guardian
Doctors in the US have made medical history by effectively curing a child born with HIV, the first time such a case has been documented.
The infant, who is now two and a half, needs no medication for HIV, has a normal life expectancy and is highly unlikely to be infectious to others, doctors believe.
.......
Dr Hannah Gay, who cared for the child at the University of Mississippi medical centre, told the Guardian the case amounted to the first "functional cure" of an HIV-infected child. A patient is functionally cured of HIV when standard tests are negative for the virus, but it is likely that a tiny amount remains in their body.
"Now, after at least one year of taking no medicine, this child's blood remains free of virus even on the most sensitive tests available," Gay said.
Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/mar/03/us-doctors-cure-child-born-hiv
hedgehog
(36,286 posts)Botany
(70,291 posts)In my lifetime aids has gone from 100% lethal to treatable disease and along the
way we have learned tons and tons of "good stuff."
bossy22
(3,547 posts)Today, in many western countries HIV + adults are dying from non-HIV related diseases- living 20+ years with the disease. Today, if a 20 year old male was diagnosed with HIV, his life span would not be that much different than a non HIV+ individual.
Arkansas Granny
(31,484 posts)the research in this disease.
bossy22
(3,547 posts)though it should be taken with a grain of salt. HIV requires CD4 immune cells to replicate itself. New borns have really no function immune system and therefore have very few CD4 cells. This limits the ability of the virus to replicate making it more susceptible to the anti-virals. Sadly in adults, the immune system is fully functional and there are plenty of CD4 cells for HIV to replicate in.
Rowdyboy
(22,057 posts)The infant underwent remission of the HIV infection after receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) within 30 hours of birth Zidovudine, Lamivudine and Nevirapine. A series of tests showed progressively diminishing viral presence in the infants blood until it reached undetectable levels 29 days after birth. Gay switched Nevirapine with Kaletra for long term therapy.
The infant remained on antiviral drugs until 18 months of age, then became hard to follow up with for a while and stopped treatment. Ten months after discontinuation of treatment, the child underwent repeated standard blood tests, none of which detected HIV presence in the blood.
At that point the mom admitted that she had not been giving the medicine for several months, and I expected the babys viral load to have gone back up, Gay said. But, when we drew the test we got back still an undetectable viral load. That was a surprise to me.
The child is now 2 1/2 years old and healthy with a normal immune system because the HIV virus has not returned. Dr. Gay and a team of researchers presented the case Sunday at the 20th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Atlanta.
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undiegrinder
(79 posts)At least, I think it was in 1983 that I first heard of AIDS -- or, as some called it early on, GRID (Gay Related Immuno Deficiency) -- and people I knew started dropping dead.
As a result, I've been hearing about "AIDS cures" for nearly 30 years -- from the early days of AZT (which, when first introduced, was inadvertently given in such massive doses that it, rather than AIDS, may have killed many) to the current anti-virals (the makers of which helpfully provide a little speech for any "bedside manner-deprived" doctors to give to their patients which explains that "You'll live to be a hundred !" while downplaying the fact that, at least until a cure is found, that longevity likely depends on daily doses of expensive meds).
I do, of course, hope and pray that they're onto something here, although the Guardian article points out that the treatment is only applicable to newborns. (It's also too soon to know what side effects, if any, the "cured" child may experience in the years to come -- hopefully, none !)
Hope I don't sound like a crabby, cynical old queen -- I'm actually just a realistic, battle-hardened one.
Lone_Star_Dem
(28,158 posts)I've seen HIV go from a death sentence to a chronic illness so far in my lifetime. Next I want to see it cured.
A happy K&R for more good news on the HIV front.
Heathen57
(573 posts)the people responsible should be a shoe-in for the Nobel Prize for Medicine. I'm not sure how many are born with the disease in the US, but the number is much, much higher in the African countries.
Now if the same process can be used in adult cases, it really will be a discovery.
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)It is a big first step. Maybe whatever discovery they made can be used for other diseases as well.
nolabear
(41,915 posts)And could lead to the saving of many more.
and-justice-for-all
(14,765 posts)Wolf Frankula
(3,595 posts)And we can put AIDS up on the Hall of Triumphs.
"Ainsi périssent tous les ennemis de la race humaine". CDH Motto
Wolf
Franker65
(299 posts)Here's to hoping it this procedure can be repeated!