Researchers at a scientific conference in Atlanta claimed Sunday that they had cured a small child of HIV through a particular aggressive drug treatment. If confirmed, this would be the first case ever of a person fully cured of HIV with drugs. The Washington Post reports the big news:
A baby born with the AIDS virus two years ago in Mississippi who was put on antiretroviral therapy within hours of birth appears to have been cured of the infection, researchers said Sunday at a scientific conference in Atlanta.
Whether the cure is complete and permanent, or only partial and long-lasting, is not certain. Either way, the highly unusual case raises hope for the more than 300,000 babies born with the infection around the world each year.
If the findings in the new case bear up under further scrutiny, it will mark the first time the infection has been cured by drugs. The only known cure of a case of HIV infection occurred in 2007. An American man living in Germany got a bone-marrow transplant from a donor who had a rare HIV-resistance mutation in his cells.
And today we celebrate...