Second Patient Cured Of HIV

The news that there is a second patient cured of HIV appeared in the media, for the first time, in 2019. Doctors did not dare to assure that this was definitive. However now, a year later, the chances of this healing being complete are becoming more and more tangible.

The acronym for HIV refers to the human immunodeficiency virus. Although it often tends to be confused with the term AIDS, it is not the same. HIV is the virus itself, while AIDS is the final stage of this infection – it stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

HIV is a virus that attacks certain cells of the immune system and destroys them. These cells are CD4 T lymphocytes. They are essential cells for our body, since they are responsible for stimulating and coordinating many of the cells of the immune system.

There are many people with HIV in the world. In fact, it is estimated that there are around 39 million infected. Therefore, in this article we will talk about the second patient cured of HIV and how his treatment has been.

History of the second patient cured of HIV

The second patient cured of HIV is called ‘” London patient “. The first case, which was called ” Berlin patient “, was declared cured around 2008. This idea of ​​cure has always been expressed with caution.

This is so because HIV is a virus that remains in our body on a chronic basis. It destroys CD4 T lymphocytes, making our immune system weaker so that we cannot respond to infections.

The course of HIV is complex. If left untreated, it can lead to AIDS, which is the stage where complete immunodeficiency already exists. Until recently it was thought that a cure for this infection was impossible.

Antiretroviral treatments are based on keeping the infection under control. In this way, the risk of virus transmission and the number of copies that exist in the body are reduced. Thus, people with HIV may have a longer life expectancy.

How can a patient be cured of HIV?

Both the first and second cured HIV patients are people who have undergone a stem cell transplant. In this HIV-cured patient, the transplant was to treat Hodgkin’s lymphoma. This technique was performed in 2016.

Stem cell transplantation allows cells from the donor to replace cells from the sick person. However, if it had been any transplant, the person would have remained infected with HIV.

However, what the scientists did was choose a specific donor. The donor had two copies of a genetic mutation in his white blood cells. This mutation made it resistant to HIV and could not be infected.

In this way, as the donor’s stem cells replaced those of the patient, the patient became increasingly resistant to HIV. The virus could not enter cells or replicate within the body. Therefore, it ends up disappearing.

What does this mean for medicine?

After this intervention, the second patient cured of HIV has not taken HIV treatment for 30 months. In fact, there is no sign in your body of the infection. This is why researchers are beginning to claim a cure.

This fact represents a milestone in the history of medicine. HIV is an infection that continues to be one of the world’s biggest health problems. Although more and more treatments and forms of prevention are known, it is still a major cause of death.

The fact that there is a second patient cured of HIV allows a much more hopeful vision of the research and possible treatments of this infection. It will be a matter of continuing on the investigative path to arrive at more precise ways of approaching the problem.