In a massive first for medication , doctors announced today that a baby has been cured of an HIV infection . Dr. Deborah Persaud , who presented the child ’s display case today at the twentieth yearly league on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infection , called it “ decidedly a plot - changer . ”
Persaud , of Johns Hopkins University Medical School , is the lead author of a study tell the tyke ’s treatment . The identity of the slight little girl , who was bear to an HIV - positive woman in rural Mississippi , has yet to be released . What we do screw is that she is only the 2d someone in the world — and the first tyke — to be cured of HIV in its annihilative 32 - twelvemonth story . If the case is confirmed , it is unfeignedly unprecedented .
The abstract for Persaud ’s presentment ( which can be found in its entirety here ) offer details of the child ’s treatment , which involved very other presidency of antiretroviral therapy ( ART ) , initiating treatment when the child was just 30 hours onetime ( accent total ):
method acting : baby exposure to HIV was affirm through followup of enatic HIV antibody and plasma viral load trial , let in HIV drug resistance testing . baby contagion was document using standard HIV DNA polymerase Sir Ernst Boris Chain response ( PCR ) and plasma viral load . ART administration was sustain with aesculapian and pharmaceutics records and maternal composition of medication adherence . perseverance of HIV infection following treatment discontinuance was assessed using standard clinical assays that included plasma viral load , proviral DNA , and HIV antibody testing . Ultrasensitive HIV DNA ( droplet digital PCR ) , plasma viral load ( single written matter ) assays , and quantitative conscientious objector - culture assays were done at age 24 and 26 months to further tax HIV persistency . HLA typing was done to corroborate matching of the female parent – infant pair .
Results : Maternal infection with wild character subtype B HIV was verified . The mother and infant share HLA haplotypes . Infant infection was confirmed by positive HIV DNA and RNA testing on 2 separate blood samples obtained on the 2nd day of life . 3 additional plasma viral load tests ( days of life 7 , 12 , and 20 ) were positive before reaching undetectable levels at age 29 solar day .
The child , who is now 2 and a one-half year old , has reportedly been off drugs for a twelvemonth . Still , her blood test continue to show no augury of a function virus .
The authors ’ conclusion say it all : “ This is the first well - documented causa of functional curative in an [ HIV - positive ] minor and advise that very too soon [ antiretroviral therapy ] may preclude governance of a latent reservoir and accomplish cure in child .
We ’ll keep you posted as more info do to light . In the meantime , read the researchers ’ explanation of the lady friend ’s case at CROI:“Functional HIV Cure after Very Early ART of an Infected Infant . ”See also : these oecumenical overview byNPRand theNYT .
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