He has now been in remission for 18 months
A man in Britain has become the second known adult to be cleared of HIV after he received a bone marrow transplant from a virus-resistant donor.
The London patient, who was being treated for cancer, has now been in remission for 18 months and is no longer taking HIV drugs.
The patient, who has not been named but is being referred to as ‘the London patient’, was diagnosed with HIV in 2003 and advanced Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2012.
“There is no virus there that we can measure. We can’t detect anything,” said Ravindra Gupta, a professor and HIV biologist who was involved in the team of doctors treating the man.
Gupta described the patient as “functionally cured” and “in remission”, but added: “It’s too early to say he’s cured.”
It is the second time such surgery is thought to have cured someone of the virus. An American man named Timothy Ray Brown – who was treated in Germany – was treated over a decade ago and still free of HIV. Until now, Brown is the only person thought to have been cured of infection with HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS.
The London patient’s case is set to be reported in the journal Nature and presented at a medical conference in Seattle today, but he has asked his medical team not to reveal his name, age, nationality or other details.
