A patient in the United States (US) has reportedly become the first woman to recover from a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection after undergoing a stem cell transplant. He can be free of HIV without the need for antiretroviral drug therapy.
People with HIV themselves mostly need antiretroviral therapy to suppress the disease. Drug therapy must be consumed regularly so that the virus in the body does not develop.
But what happened to the female patient from the US was that her HIV could go undetected for 14 months without the help of drugs. The patient is known to have previously undergone a stem cell transplant from umbilical cord blood as part of leukemia cancer therapy.
According to experts, the possibility is that the woman received stem cells from a donor with natural immunity to HIV.
“This is the third reported case of HIV recovery following a stem cell transplant, and the first in a woman living with HIV,” said Sharon Lewis, chairman of the International AIDS Society.
Two similar cases have previously been reported in male patients.
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