Second known adult in the world gets HIV cure

A man in Britain has become the second known adult worldwide to be cleared of HIV after he received a bone marrow transplant from a virus-resistant donor, The Guardian reports, citing his doctors.

Almost three years after receiving bone marrow stem cells from a donor with a rare genetic mutation that resists HIV infection – and more than 18 months after he came off antiretroviral drugs – highly sensitive tests still show no trace of the man’s previous HIV infection.

“There is no virus there that we can measure. We can’t detect anything,” said Ravindra Gupta, a professor and HIV biologist who co-led a team of doctors treating the man. He described his patient as “functionally cured” and “in remission”, but cautioned: “It’s too early to say he’s cured.”

The man is being called “the London patient”, in part because his case is similar to the first known case of a functional cure of HIV, “the Berlin patient” – American Timothy Brown, who underwent similar treatment in Germany in 2007 which also cleared his HIV. He is still HIV-free.

About 37 million people worldwide are infected with HIV and Aids, which can develop from the virus, has killed about 35 million people since it began in the 1980s. Scientific research into the complex virus has led to the development of drug combinations that can keep it at bay in most patients.