Scientists have found a female patient who is believed to have completely cleared type 1 HIV infection without the help of antiviral therapy or bone marrow transplantation . The study was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Most people living with HIV need antiretroviral therapy (ART), a specific set of drugs that stops the virus from replicating in the body. Modern ART allows those infected to lead a normal life: the viral load is reduced to undetectable, patients do not infect others, and their quality and life expectancy are the same as those of people without HIV. However, the virus is insidious, it can hide inside individual cells for years and strike again if a person quits therapy or if the virus itself adapts to treatment.
There is also an experimental method of treatment, which has been used only twice so far — bone marrow transplantation from a donor resistant to HIV infection due to a rare mutation. This is similar to a complete reinstallation of the computer's operating system. However, so far such operations are considered too dangerous for widespread use.
There is also a special group of people known in science as «elite controllers». These are people whose immune systems are capable of fighting HIV infection on their own. In August 2020, it became known that one of the patients from the «elite controllers» had probably completely overcome the disease. Scientists were unable to find traces of the virus in more than a billion blood cells. Now there is news about another cured woman. To preserve medical secrecy in published materials, she was given the pseudonym Esperanza.
HIV and viral hepatitis
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In this case, the researchers were unable to find traces of HIV in more than 2 billion blood cells. And if the first patient had been under observation since 1992 before she was declared healthy, Esperanza went from detecting the virus to winning in just seven years. However, while researchers are in no hurry to announce a complete victory over the virus, even for these two lucky ones. In the published materials, they say with confidence only that viable HIV was not found in the “elite controllers”, which indicates a possible elimination of the infection. At the same time, experts believe that there are many people who do not even suspect that they have defeated HIV.
Elite Controllers are carefully studied to understand what makes their immune system so unique. Scientists hope that the characteristics of these patients will help create a more effective treatment for HIV.