Doctors from Germany have reported a cured case from HIV, a 53-year-old man from Dusseldorf making it the fifth cured case from HIV.
Stem cell transplants have been used to treat some people with HIV and certain types of cancer, such as leukemia. This procedure involves replacing a person’s immune cells with new ones from a donor, which can potentially help the body fight off the virus.
The “Düsseldorf patient” tested positive for HIV in 2008. In 2011, he developed leukaemia that was treated with chemotherapy, but it came back the following year. So, in 2013, the blood stem cells in the man’s bone marrow that give rise to immune cells including the cancerous ones were killed off by chemotherapy and then replaced with donor blood stem cells.
The patient had his first successful treatment in 2019, but researchers couldn’t confirm that he had been officially cured back then.
The recoveries of two more people with HIV and cancer, the so-called New York and City of Hope patients, were announced at different scientific conferences last year, though research has yet to be published on those cases.
However, There is optimism among scientists. With each patient they are able to help, they learn more about what it will take to develop a cure for everyone.
