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Redfairen

(1,276 posts)
Sun Mar 3, 2013, 05:55 PM Mar 2013

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

14 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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US doctors cure child born with HIV (Original Post) Redfairen Mar 2013 OP
Here's hoping this isn't an exageration! hedgehog Mar 2013 #1
Science and knowledge are good things Botany Mar 2013 #2
HIV a few years ago was downgraded to a "chronic condition" by the WHO bossy22 Mar 2013 #5
What wonderful news. I hope the budget cuts do not impact Arkansas Granny Mar 2013 #3
excellent news bossy22 Mar 2013 #4
Back up source from local newspaper... Rowdyboy Mar 2013 #6
It was just about 30 years ago ... undiegrinder Mar 2013 #7
This is extremely promising. Lone_Star_Dem Mar 2013 #8
If this can be replicated Heathen57 Mar 2013 #9
I hope he or she continues to be healthy davidpdx Mar 2013 #10
What great news! It could save so many little lives! nolabear Mar 2013 #11
There are also adult lives the need saved from this as well...nt and-justice-for-all Mar 2013 #12
And Let us go on and find a vaccine Wolf Frankula Mar 2013 #13
Great news! Franker65 Mar 2013 #14

Botany

(70,291 posts)
2. Science and knowledge are good things
Sun Mar 3, 2013, 06:00 PM
Mar 2013

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)
5. HIV a few years ago was downgraded to a "chronic condition" by the WHO
Sun Mar 3, 2013, 07:42 PM
Mar 2013

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.

bossy22

(3,547 posts)
4. excellent news
Sun Mar 3, 2013, 07:38 PM
Mar 2013

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)
6. Back up source from local newspaper...
Sun Mar 3, 2013, 07:47 PM
Mar 2013
http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20130303/NEWS01/130303013/UMC-doctor-makes-history-by-curing-HIV-positive-baby



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 infant’s 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 baby’s 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)
7. It was just about 30 years ago ...
Sun Mar 3, 2013, 07:55 PM
Mar 2013

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)
8. This is extremely promising.
Sun Mar 3, 2013, 07:58 PM
Mar 2013

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)
9. If this can be replicated
Sun Mar 3, 2013, 08:00 PM
Mar 2013

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)
10. I hope he or she continues to be healthy
Sun Mar 3, 2013, 08:22 PM
Mar 2013

It is a big first step. Maybe whatever discovery they made can be used for other diseases as well.

Wolf Frankula

(3,595 posts)
13. And Let us go on and find a vaccine
Mon Mar 4, 2013, 12:38 AM
Mar 2013

And we can put AIDS up on the Hall of Triumphs.


"Ainsi périssent tous les ennemis de la race humaine". CDH Motto

Wolf

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