Health & Medicine
British Man's HIV Undetected In Blood After 'Breakthrough' Treatment, May Be First In The World To Be Cured From The Virus
Johnson D
First Posted: Oct 04, 2016 05:41 AM EDT
A 44-year-old British man may be the first person in the world to be cured of HIV. He is one of the fifty people who is currently trialing a cure for HIV through a therapy created by scientists from five different UK universities that targets the disease even in its inactive state.
According to The Telegraph, Scientists told The Sunday Times that right now, the virus is completely undetectable in the man's blood, though they think that could be a result of regular drugs. However, if they find that the dormant cells are also cleared out it could represent the first complete cure. Trial results are expected to be published in 2018.
"This is one of the first serious attempts at a full cure for HIV," said Mark Samuels, managing director of the National Institute for Health Research Office for Clinical Research Infrastructure. "We are exploring the real possibility of curing HIV. This is a huge challenge and it's still early days but the progress has been remarkable."
It was also reported by The Independent that the clinical trials, funded by the NHS, are the results of joint efforts by doctors and scientists at five different universities including universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College London, University College London and King's College London. The man, whose identity has been kept anonymous, said: "I took part in the trial to help others as well as myself. It would be a massive achievement if, after all, these years, something is found to cure people of this disease. The fact that I was a part of that would be incredible."
Imperial College London consultant physician Sarah Fidler warned the public that there is still a long way to go. She said that they plan to continue medical tests for five more years, but depending on trial results, they aim to keep exploring the treatment that could be revolutionary, Inhabitat reported. It is still not yet known how the other 49 people responded to the therapy, or if the virus will return in the British man, but the researchers remain to be hopeful.
National Institute for Health Research Office for Clinical Research Infrastructure managing director Mark Samuels said, "This is one of the first serious attempts at a full cure for HIV. We are exploring the real possibility of curing HIV. This is a huge challenge and it's still early days but the progress has been remarkable."
HIV, which stands for "human immunodeficiency virus," is primarily transmitted through sexual contacts or by using infected needles. The virus weakens a person's immune system by destroying T-cells which are important to fight disease and infection. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that about 36.7 million people are living with HIV around the world. Antiretroviral therapies target and prevent actively infected cells. Unfortunately, they still leave millions of dormant infected T-cells in the body. This means that the existing treatments can effectively control HIV but do not cure the disease.
Only one person has ever been cured of HIV. He is Timothy Brown, also known as the 'second' Berlin Patient, who received a stem cell transplant from a patient with natural immunity to HIV in 2008.
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First Posted: Oct 04, 2016 05:41 AM EDT
A 44-year-old British man may be the first person in the world to be cured of HIV. He is one of the fifty people who is currently trialing a cure for HIV through a therapy created by scientists from five different UK universities that targets the disease even in its inactive state.
According to The Telegraph, Scientists told The Sunday Times that right now, the virus is completely undetectable in the man's blood, though they think that could be a result of regular drugs. However, if they find that the dormant cells are also cleared out it could represent the first complete cure. Trial results are expected to be published in 2018.
"This is one of the first serious attempts at a full cure for HIV," said Mark Samuels, managing director of the National Institute for Health Research Office for Clinical Research Infrastructure. "We are exploring the real possibility of curing HIV. This is a huge challenge and it's still early days but the progress has been remarkable."
It was also reported by The Independent that the clinical trials, funded by the NHS, are the results of joint efforts by doctors and scientists at five different universities including universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College London, University College London and King's College London. The man, whose identity has been kept anonymous, said: "I took part in the trial to help others as well as myself. It would be a massive achievement if, after all, these years, something is found to cure people of this disease. The fact that I was a part of that would be incredible."
Imperial College London consultant physician Sarah Fidler warned the public that there is still a long way to go. She said that they plan to continue medical tests for five more years, but depending on trial results, they aim to keep exploring the treatment that could be revolutionary, Inhabitat reported. It is still not yet known how the other 49 people responded to the therapy, or if the virus will return in the British man, but the researchers remain to be hopeful.
National Institute for Health Research Office for Clinical Research Infrastructure managing director Mark Samuels said, "This is one of the first serious attempts at a full cure for HIV. We are exploring the real possibility of curing HIV. This is a huge challenge and it's still early days but the progress has been remarkable."
HIV, which stands for "human immunodeficiency virus," is primarily transmitted through sexual contacts or by using infected needles. The virus weakens a person's immune system by destroying T-cells which are important to fight disease and infection. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that about 36.7 million people are living with HIV around the world. Antiretroviral therapies target and prevent actively infected cells. Unfortunately, they still leave millions of dormant infected T-cells in the body. This means that the existing treatments can effectively control HIV but do not cure the disease.
Only one person has ever been cured of HIV. He is Timothy Brown, also known as the 'second' Berlin Patient, who received a stem cell transplant from a patient with natural immunity to HIV in 2008.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone