A Brazilian man may be the first person to be
"cured" of HIV after receiving an intensive
experimental drug therapy.

The 34-year-old, who was diagnosed with HIV
in 2012, is the first person to maintain long-
term HIV remission after being given a year-
long course of intensive anti-retroviral (ARV)
drugs. The man received the treatment
alongside four other patients but was the only
one to have been “cured”.

The researchers, who unveiled their findings
at this week’s virtual International Aids
Society conference, warn that further analysis
is needed.

The patient - only the third person ever to
have been "cured of the disease" - was put on
standard ARV treatment two months after his
diagnosis and then enrolled on a clinical trial
where he received standard ARTs as well as
the HIV drugs dolutegravir and marivoc. He
was also given nicotinamide, a form of
vitamin B.

Nicotinamide fights part of the virus that
infects cells and causes them to self destruct
as well as activating the immune system.

The patient received the intensive therapy for
a year and then was taken off treatment in
March 2019. Since then he has been tested
every three weeks and a year later he still has
no detectable viral load or any antibodies.

From tragedy to hope | A history of HIV
breakthroughs

Professor Sharon Lewin, an HIV and
infectious diseases expert at the University of
Melbourne who was not involved in the
research, said the fact that the patient has no
antibodies was significant.

“When someone is infected with a virus they
make antibodies. And antibodies don’t budge,
even when you’re on treatment and there’s
no detectable viral load. But this showed he
had no antibodies which is supportive of him
being cured,” she said.

However, she added that it was important to
remember that this was just one patient and
the findings were being published as a case
report rather than a full academic paper.

“It’s interesting, but it’s hard to know how
significant it is when it’s just a single case.

I’d also like to know what happened to the
other patients,” she said.

Dr Ricardo Diaz of the University of Sao Paulo
in Brazil, who led the study, said he was
"trying to wake up the virus" and boost the
immune system's ability to eliminate it once
it's flushed out of hiding.

"We can't search the entire body, but by the
best evidence, we do not have infected cells,"
Dr Diaz said.

"I think it's very promising. This patient
might be cured," but it will take more time to
know, he added.

The man was diagnosed with HIV in October
2012 and was then put on treatment just two
months later. Patients who go on treatment
soon after acquiring HIV can quickly bring
their virus under control, said Prof Lewin.

“So it’s hard to work out whether this person
had the virus under control because we don't
know when he acquired HIV or whether the
addition of extra ARVs and nicotinamide made
a difference,” she said.

However, if this approach is shown to work
in more patients it would be a significant
breakthrough .

Currently, people with HIV have to be on
treatment for the rest of their lives to
suppress their viral load. The treatment is a
functional "cure" as it means patients have
undetectable levels of virus and cannot pass it
onto others and can live long and
healthy lives.

However, treatment is expensive, people need
to take medication every day and drug
resistance has started to develop.

37 million people worldwide live with HIV
“Everyone wants to find a way to allow
someone to stop treatment safely. If even
three out of 20 patients had the same
response to this treatment it would be
exciting,” said Prof Lewin.

This is not the first time scientists have
claimed to have found a way of eradicating
the virus .

The first talk of an HIV “cure” was in 2007
when Timothy Brown - dubbed the Berlin
Patient - underwent a bone marrow transplant
to treat leukaemia. More than 10 years later
he remains free of the disease.

The second person to be “cured” of the
disease was Adam Castillejo, who made
headlines last year as the "London Patient".

Mr Castillejo, who chose to waive his
anonymity in March as he wanted to be an
“ambassador of hope”, was treated with stem
cells from a donor with genetic resistance to
the disease by specialists at University College
London and Imperial College in 2016. Since
then he has shown no sign of the virus.

Deborah Gold, chief executive of National
AIDS Trust, said the latest research was
interesting.

“The results from one of the participants
could lead to promising developments in
finding a cure for HIV. Knowledge is key in
ending HIV and we praise the work being
done by researchers around the world to
improve our knowledge and understanding
about HIV.

“However, whilst work continues to explore
the implications of this isolated case, we must
remain focused on the tools we already have
to stop acquisition of HIV.

“We can prevent HIV acquisition by
improving access to the highly effective HIV
prevention drug PrEP. Modern HIV treatment
means people living with HIV can live
healthily into old age, and once on effective
HIV treatment cannot pass on the virus. Our
focus in the UK and internationally must
therefore be to provide easy access to PrEP
and HIV testing, and universal access to free
HIV treatment.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/brazilian-man-may-first-person-cured-hiv-drugs-alone/

Nice

Wow....


I read it all and I am still confused.... Head buzzing with alot of questions...








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