Brown, First Person Cured of HIV Dies of Cancer

JAKARTA – Timothy Ray Brown, famous for being the first to be healed of HIV, died of cancer at the age of 54. Known as “the Berlin patient“, Brown was diagnosed with HIV and leukemia myeloid acute, white blood cell cancer, while living in Berlin more than a decade ago (Read also: Israeli forces arrest senior Hamas leader at West Bank)

After being diagnosed with cancer in 2006, Brown received radiation therapy and a bone marrow transplant in 2007. This is a treatment to kill cancer cells in his body and increase the production of healthy white blood cells, which are produced in the bone marrow.

Dr Gero Huetter, the doctor who led the deceased’s treatment procedures while treating leukemia and HIV, used the same surgery to treat his cancer.

Huetter is looking for a bone marrow donor with a rare genetic mutation that provides natural resistance to HIV infection. Viruses typically target white blood cells called CD4-T cells, which are infiltrated via specific receptors on the cell surface. People with the genetic mutation have an altered version of this receptor, so the virus cannot enter, wrote Live Science.

The Associated Press reported that after his first bone marrow transplant in 2007, Brown was free of HIV and remained free of the virus until his death. He needed a second transplant in 2008 to get rid of leukemia, but after years of remission, the cancer returned to him last year and spread to his spine and brain.

“I am heartbroken that my hero is now gone. Tim is truly the sweetest man in the world,” Brown’s colleague Tim Hoeffgen wrote in a posting Facebook.

“We are very grateful to Timothy and his doctor, Gero Huetter, for opening the door for scientists to explore the concept that a cure for HIV is possible,” said Adeeba Kamarulzaman, President of the International AIDS Society. Reuters. (Also read: Huawei Mate 40 Make You Curious? Hopefully this article can be the answer)

(iqb)

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