In an extremely rare case, an Argentinian woman’s immune system appears to have completely rid itself of the HIV infection.
Without any drugs or treatment, a woman from Argentina has achieved the highly improbable and is no longer presenting as HIV positive.
This is only the 2nd reported occurrence worldwide of someone’s immune system completely and independently ridding itself of HIV.
Doctors believe the woman’s immune system cleared the virus all on its own, with tests on more than a billion of her cells showing no viable trace of the virus. These findings reveal further proof that some people are born with a natural resilience or immunity to HIV.
It’s believed that if this process could be somehow harnessed it may represent a genuine cure for HIV/AIDS.
It is reported that some people have natural immunity, whereas others such as this woman – termed the “Esperanza patient” to protect her identity – appear to catch the virus and then naturally rid themselves of it. The “Esperenza patient” has been HIV free with no medication for more than eight years.
A women in Argentina has been 'naturally' cured of #HIV without medical intervention eight years after her diagnosis, according to a new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. https://t.co/bERhV3BeOp
— IAS – International AIDS Society (@iasociety) November 16, 2021
Dr Xu Yu, a viral immunologist at Ragon Institute in Boston, said, “There may be an actionable path to a sterilising cure for people who are not able to do this on their own. We are now looking toward the possibility of inducing this kind of immunity in persons on ART, through vaccination, with the goal of educating their immune systems to be able to control the virus without ART.”
Despite current treatments in anti-retroviral therapy (ART) being very successful, the possibility of a cure or vaccine is immensely exciting. Developments in this area would be particularly beneficial in nations and communities with less access to the expensive therapies.
A woman in Argentina has become only the second documented person whose own immune system may have cured her of #HIV.https://t.co/XBFuY2eD1A #hivcure pic.twitter.com/Mti0zPQwa3
— defeatHIV (@defeatHIV) November 16, 2021
Prof John Frater, from the University of Oxford, said that whilst it was impossible to tell if someone was 100% cured of HIV, the investigators had done “as much as could be asked of them with current technology“.
Prof Frater continued, sounding hopeful, “there may be similar patients out there, offering much to learn in the search for a HIV cure.”
