First man 'functionally cured' of HIV

Source

Video

Timothy Ray Brown suffered from both leukemia and HIV when he received a bone marrow stem cell transplant in Berlin, Germany in 2007. The transplant came from a man who was immune to HIV, which scientists say about 1 percent of Caucasians are. (According to San Francisco's CBS affiliate, the trait may be passed down from ancestors who became immune to the plague centuries ago. This Wired story says it was more likely passed down from people who became immune to a smallpox-like disease.)

What happened next has stunned the dozens of scientists who are closely monitoring Brown: His HIV went away.

"He has no replicating virus and he isn't taking any medication. And he will now probably never have any problems with HIV," his doctor Gero Huetter told Reuters. Brown now lives in the Bay Area, and suffers from some mild neurological difficulties after the operation. "It makes me very happy," he says of the incredible cure.

This is a pretty amazing accidental discovery. If you read the story (and there's a video link in there too) it mentions that bone marrow transplants can be deadly and could never be applied to all the people with HIV, which in itself is sad because now people know there might be a way to cure it but doctor's won't go near it.

What I didn't know was that apparently 1% of Caucasians are immune to HIV. Is this some new discovery or has that been known for some time? I certainly wish my aunt who died of AIDS over 15 years ago had been among that 1%.

There was another article that was announced a few months back that said a cure had been discovered with a 100% success rate and would pass FDA approval within a year. Hopefully they are still on track to do that. It's time this disease was eradicated.

I've actually seen this article quit a few times already, there should be a thread about this for sure.

reply to post by pjslug
This is a great advancement in the medical understanding of this bug. It seems medicine is getting better in its fields of advancement . Thanks for sharing the good news to the species as this type of medical technology developes. S&F
be well
LOVE LIGHT ETERNIA

Originally posted by Cocasinpry
I've actually seen this article quit a few times already, there should be a thread about this for sure.

There was a minor thread back in December about the stem cell transplant he had but at that point it wasn't completely known if he was functionally cured. This is a new article and warrants a new thread.

reply to post by pjslug


Ah, I guess you're right. I guess they've been following this story closely throughout the last few years.
And positive news is always awesome.

The donor was probably RH negative like myself.

I wonder if this makes him completely immune? If so, he could "pay it forward" by saving someone else with HIV. It would not take long to erradicate the disease at that rate.

reply to post by pjslug


And leukemia! I saw this chap on the teli.

How do they find the 1% who are immune?
Are there tests or is it a blood type?
Are they immune to anything else?

Where are these people?

Incredible story but..

How could there be genetic immunity to HIV going back centuries? I thought HIV was a relatively new disease.

I must be missing something.

reply to post by SteveR


I'm pretty sure they only "become" diseases after a certain number of cases are known about and exhibit the same signs and symptoms etc... It could have been around for a while but not become as tough as it is now for a long time, and therefore, not actually have been "known" to be HIV until the last 50 years or whenever it was widely known about.

Originally posted by SteveR
Incredible story but..

How could there be genetic immunity to HIV going back centuries? I thought HIV was a relatively new disease.

I must be missing something.

It is a man-made disease engineered with the hopes that only certain people would be immune.

reply to post by SteveR

The AIDS virus has been circulating among people for about 100 years, decades longer than scientists had thought, a new study suggests. Genetic analysis pushes the estimated origin of HIV back to between 1884 and 1924, with a more focused estimate at 1908.

www.thestar.com...

OR

SCIENTISTS HAVE discovered the origin of Aids. New evidence reveals that the virus has repeatedly passed from wild chimpanzees to humans for many thousands of years.

www.independent.co.uk...


Take your pick

I dont think we know very many "facts" about its origin just as it took forever to figure out that it wouldnt be passed between people by shaking someones sweaty hand when they discovered bodily fluid transmission Im just happy to know we have a possibility of a cure for it.. and Id be tested in a heartbeat to see if I was immune and could donate marrow or whatever they are using that I could spare. My middle daughter was given an organ that saved her life... Im always looking for ways to "pay it forward" I have never been close to anyone with AIDS or HIV but was an RN and came into contact with many. I also recall the big hubbub made of it when it first became more public way back when. People actually gave their kids excuse notes in P.E. so they wouldn't use the gym equipment in case someone had a sweat on something and their kid might catch it. In the last few decades I really dont see that we have come close to solving its riddles, origins, or viable treatments... IMO. This might be it!