AIDS World first woman to recover from HIV but what are the concerns about this treatment?
The Method of treatment used on the American woman is not suitable for everyone.
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AIDS: The world's first woman to recover from HIV, but what are the concerns about this treatment |
An American woman living with HIV has become the 3rd person & the first woman in the world to be-completely free of the disease but experts have advised caution in this regard.
The woman was being treated for leukemia bone marrow cancer when she received a stem cell transplant from someone who had a natural resistance to AIDS-causing virus.
The woman has been free of the virus for the past 14 months. However experts say that the method of transplant used for this patient is-not suitable for most HIV patients.
Cuase was presented at a medical conference in Denver on Tuesday and is the first time the method has been used as an active treatment for HIV.
The patient received an embryonic cord blood transplant as part of his cancer treatment and hasn't had to take the antiretroviral therapy needed to treat HIV since.
The case was part of a larger US study of people living with HIV who-underwent the same type of blood transplant to treat cancer & other serious illnesses.
The transplanted cells that were selected have a specific genetic mutation that means they cannot be infected with the( HIV )virus.
Scientists believe that the immune system of people treated in this way may develop resistance to HIV as a result.
All of the HIV treatment stories are truly admirable and gratifying. This proves that the disease can be cured.
But this approach does not give us hope of ensuring treatment for the 37 million people living with HIV, most of whom live in Africa.
The potential for stem cell transplants was demonstrated in 2007 when Timothy Ray Brown became the first person to become (HIV) free. He had a transplant from a donor whose immune system was naturally anti HIV.
Since then the deed has been repeated only twice first to a patient named Adam Castilejo & now to a patient in New York.
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