For only the second time since the AIDS pandemic swept the world, a patient has been cured of the HIV infection. The London-based man was cleared of HIV after receiving a bone marrow transplant from an unrelated donor, his doctors said. Three years after receiving stem cells from the donor with a rare genetic mutation resistant to HIV, the latest tests show no sign of the patient’s previous HIV infection.
The AIDS pandemic has killed 35 million people around the world since it began in the 1980s and approximately 37 million people are currently infected with HIV.
There is no virus there that we can measure
Professor Ravindra Gupta
Scientific research into the AIDS virus has led to the development of drug combinations that can keep it at bay in most patients.
Professor Ravindra Gupta, a HIV biologist who co-led the team treating the man said: “There is no virus there that we can measure. We cannot detect anything.
But despite describing the adult male as “functionally cured” and “in remission”, Professor Gupta cautioned: “It is too early to say he is cured.“
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HIV cure: A London man has become the second-ever be cleared of the HIV virus (Image: Getty)
HIV cure: The AIDS pandemic has killed 35 million people (Image: Getty)
The man is being called “the
