AIDS researchers announce a fourth patient cured of HIV

On Wednesday, AIDS researchers revealed that a fourth person had been "cured" of HIV. However, the risky procedure for patients who were also battling cancer may not provide much solace for the tens of millions of people who are HIV-positive globally.

The 66-year-old man, known as the "City of Hope" patient after the Californian facility where he received treatment, was told he was in remission ahead of the International AIDS Conference, which starts on Friday in Montreal, Canada.

After researchers reported in February that a US lady, known as the New York patient, had also entered remission, he is the second individual to be declared to have been cured this year.

Similar to patients in Berlin and London before him, the City of Hope patient experienced a long-lasting remission from the virus following a bone marrow transplant to cure cancer.

Five men may have been cured, with one more guy, the Duesseldorf patient, previously reported to have achieved remission.

Because the most recent patient was the oldest yet to achieve remission, Jana Dickter, an infectious disease specialist at the City of Hope, told AFP that his accomplishment could be encouraging for older HIV patients who also have cancer.

The patient-related research, which was presented at a pre-conference in Montreal but hasn't been peer-reviewed, is led by Dickter.

‘I thought it was a death sentence’

“When I was diagnosed with HIV in 1988, like many others, I thought it was a death sentence,” said the patient, who does not want to be identified.

“I never thought I would live to see the day that I no longer have HIV,” he said in a City of Hope statement. “I am beyond grateful.”

The patient, according to Dickter, told her about the discrimination he faced in the 1980s at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic.

She stated, "He watched many of his friends and loved ones get very ill and eventually pass away from cancer.

She said that he formerly had "full-blown AIDS," but that he had taken part in early antiretroviral medication studies, which now allow many of the 38 million people with HIV worldwide to survive with the infection.

He had HIV for 31 years, which is a record for a patient who has achieved remission.

He received a bone marrow transplant with stem cells from an unrelated donor in 2019 after being told he had leukaemia. This donor had a rare mutation in which a portion of the CCR5 gene was missing, making people resistant to HIV.

He didn't stop taking antiretrovirals until he received the Covid-19 vaccine in March 2021, and since, he has been in remission from both HIV and cancer.

The patient's success with reduced-intensity chemotherapy may make it possible for older HIV patients with cancer to receive treatment, according to Dickter.

However, she continued, it "isn't a feasible alternative for most patients with HIV" because it is a difficult surgery with negative side effects.

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