Second HIV Patient: Functionally Cured
This is good news that an HIV positive man in London has been cured by stem cell therapy.
Dr. Ravinder Gupta, a HIV biologist and professor stated that this patient has been functionally cured and it can not be stated that he has cured.
This patient was diagnosed with HIV in 2003. And he started taking treatment in 2012. In the same year, he was diagnosed with HIV-associated malignancy also called Hodgkin Lymphoma.
For his cancer, he was given treatment with bone marrow transplant but the donor had this mutation in CCR 5 Delta gene which incorporates HIV-virus.
After the transplant, the patient stopped taking anti-HIV drugs for three years. After 3 years, there were no traces of HIV-virus in his blood and body. He is second to Timothy, who was diagnosed for HIV and was the first person in the world to be completely cured for HIV by Dr. Gero Hutter.
This report has to be published in journal nature and to be discussed in a conference in Seattle. According to Dr. Gupta, we can work on this CCR 5 Delta gene to cure HIV patients by gene therapy in future. But gene therapy/ stem cell therapy is really expensive, complicated and risky. And it is very rare to find the exact match. This patient’s details are still confidential.
Current status of HIV in 37 million worldwide. 35 million people have died of HIV since it has been diagnosed until 1980.