UMC Doctor Reports First Case of Baby Cured Born with HIV

A baby born with HIV was cured by pediatrician from University of Mississippi Medical Center. It is the first time such a case has been documented. Though medical staff and scientists are unclear why the treatment was effective.

The baby is now 2½ and has been off medication for about a year with no signs of infection.

“It certainly came as a surprise to me,” said Dr. Hannah Gay, who has 10 years experience of treating new born babies.

"Now, after at least one year of taking no medicine, this child's blood remains free of virus even on the most sensitive tests available," Gay said.

A doctor gave this baby faster and stronger treatment than is usual, starting a three-drug infusion within 30 hours of birth. It was even before tests confirmed the baby was infected and not merely at risk from a mother whose HIV wasn't diagnosed until she was in labor.

"I just felt like this baby was at higher-than-normal risk, and deserved our best shot," Dr. Hannah Gay added.

That quick implementation help knocking out HIV in the infant's blood before it could form hideouts in the body. Those so-called reservoirs of dormant cells normally rapidly reinfect anyone who cease medication, said Dr. Deborah Persaud of Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

In Mississippi, around 60-65 babies are born annually to HIV-infected mothers, she said.

This surprising event will assist scientists better understand the nature of HIV, doctors say, and will potentially assist countless HIV-positive babies in developing countries.

A patient is functionally cured of HIV when standard tests are negative for the virus, but it is likely that a small amount remains in their body.

The mother's HIV is being controlled with medication and she is "quite excited for her child," Gay added.

Dr. Gay and a team of researchers presented the case Sunday at the 20th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Atlanta.

AIDS was first clinically observed in 1981 in the United States. The earliest well documented case of HIV in a human dates back to 1959 in the Congo. The virus may have been present in the United States as early as 1966. There are 33 million people infected with HIV worldwide.