It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
(visit the link for the full news article)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A baby born with the AIDS virus appears to have been cured, scientists announced Sunday, describing the case of a child from Mississippi who's now 2 1/2 and has been off medication for about a year with no signs of infection.
There's no guarantee the child will remain healthy, although sophisticated testing uncovered just traces of the virus' genetic material still lingering. If so, it would mark only the world's second reported cure.
The child's story is the first account of an infant achieving a so-called functional cure, a rare event in which a person achieves remission without the need for drugs and standard blood tests show no signs that the virus is making copies of itself.
Originally posted by miniatus
Pretty good news for sure.
Our bodies have always been in a weapons race with nature..viruses and bacteria evolve to defeat out immune system and our immune system evolves and adapts to them.. with HIV they basically had the opportunity to build the viral nuclear bomb and our bodies haven't been able to create a functional defense..
In 2007, Timothy Ray Brown became the first person in the world believed to have recovered from HIV.
His infection was eradicated through an elaborate treatment for leukaemia that involved the destruction of his immune system and a stem cell transplant from a donor with a rare genetic mutation that resists HIV infection.
In contrast, the case of the Mississippi baby involved a cocktail of widely available drugs already used to treat HIV infection in infants.
It suggests the treatment wiped out HIV before it could form hideouts in the body.
These so-called reservoirs of dormant cells usually rapidly re-infect anyone who stops medication, said Dr Persaud.
Originally posted by Aloysius the Gaul
Apparently the treatment was just the standard cocktail fo drugs - but started at a very early stage of life:
In 2007, Timothy Ray Brown became the first person in the world believed to have recovered from HIV.
His infection was eradicated through an elaborate treatment for leukaemia that involved the destruction of his immune system and a stem cell transplant from a donor with a rare genetic mutation that resists HIV infection.
In contrast, the case of the Mississippi baby involved a cocktail of widely available drugs already used to treat HIV infection in infants.
It suggests the treatment wiped out HIV before it could form hideouts in the body.
These so-called reservoirs of dormant cells usually rapidly re-infect anyone who stops medication, said Dr Persaud.
And so perhaps it actually is a "proper" cure - albeit not one that anyone reading this can actually use!!edit on 3-3-2013 by Aloysius the Gaul because: (no reason given)
Originally posted by MysterX
reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul
Maybe the standard HIV drugs, plus infusion of stem cells were the key factor.
Perhaps the stem cells (babies have lots) determined chemically that there wasn't enough immune system cells due to them being hijacked by HIV..and morphed, as they do, into what was needed?
Originally posted by Aloysius the Gaul
Originally posted by MysterX
reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul
Maybe the standard HIV drugs, plus infusion of stem cells were the key factor.
No stem cells were used with the infant.
Perhaps the stem cells (babies have lots) determined chemically that there wasn't enough immune system cells due to them being hijacked by HIV..and morphed, as they do, into what was needed?
Maybe you could read the article and see what they ascribe the success to??edit on 3-3-2013 by Aloysius the Gaul because: (no reason given)
A baby born with the AIDS virus appears to have been cured
Originally posted by MysterX
Originally posted by Aloysius the Gaul
Originally posted by MysterX
reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul
Maybe the standard HIV drugs, plus infusion of stem cells were the key factor.
No stem cells were used with the infant.
Perhaps the stem cells (babies have lots) determined chemically that there wasn't enough immune system cells due to them being hijacked by HIV..and morphed, as they do, into what was needed?
Maybe you could read the article and see what they ascribe the success to??edit on 3-3-2013 by Aloysius the Gaul because: (no reason given)
No no...you misunderstand...the infant already has an abundance of it's OWN stem cells...more at it's age, than at any future point in it's life.
I'm talking about natural stem cells, not those brought in from outside the body, that's why i said '(babies have lots)', when i said 'an infusion of stem cells' i meant the HIV drugs, being aided by his own cells.