5th Patient Of Hope Cured Of HIV

As reported by NBC News on July 27, 2022, we probably find our 5th miracle. A 66-yers-old man was first diagnosed with HIV in 1988. A patient whose real identity is disguised as a City of Hope patient in reference to the medical center in Los Angeles where he was treated. He’s been on antiretroviral drugs for more than 31 years to control his HIV. NBC News reported that He took AZT and some of the other early HIV medications, which were prescribed individually, before switching to a highly effective combination antiretroviral treatment in the 1990s. At one point, the man’s condition had progressed to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), meaning his white blood cell count had fallen to critically low levels.

HIV in 2018

Based on an article by Nicoletta Lanese for livescience.com, Several decades later, in 2018, the patient developed acute myelogenous leukemia (also called acute myeloid leukemia, or AML), a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. As a treatment for both the cancer and HIV, doctors performed a blood stem cell transplant with cells from a donor who carried a rare genetic mutation. This mutation, called homozygous CCR5 delta 32, renders its carrier resistant to HIV by altering the entryway that the virus usually exploits to invade the body’s white blood cells.

HIV in 2021

Back in March 2021 following a City of Hope patient transplant HIV-resistant cells steadily took over his immune system. Following that event under intensive supervision City of Hope patient stopped taking antiretroviral medications and there have been no signs of HIV replication in his body. Dr. Jana Dickter, an associate clinical professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at City of Hope who treats our patient said “We monitored him very closely, and to date, we cannot find any evidence of HIV replicating in his system,” This means the man has experienced no viral rebound. And even through ultra-sensitive tests, including biopsies of the man’s intestines, researchers couldn’t find any signs of viable virus.

In Conclusion

According to NBC News, Dr. Sharon Lewin, an infectious-disease specialist at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity at the University of Melbourne in Australia, said at a news conference “While a transplant is not an option for most people with HIV, these cases are still interesting, still inspiring and illuminate the search for a cure.” 

The Washington Post also reported Some research groups are working to develop gene editing techniques that could introduce the HIV-resistant mutation into patients.