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It’s so odd that while great amount of effort and money are being spent in finding HIV cure, the answer goes away just like that. Doctors and the rest of the people in the medical industry who wear nursing scrubs and lab coats were overwhelmed by the case of one patient who was cured of HIV, but at the same time seem to feel frustration by the fact that such procedure is just too risky, even lethal, aside from the fact that finding a person immune to HIV is extremely rare.
The patient cured of HIV is a U.S. man, in his 40’s, who happened to also be a sufferer of myeloid leukemia. His latter disease became the key to his being accidentally cured of the virus that sickened 33.4 million people worldwide with AIDS. The said man received a bone marrow transplant in February 2007 to treat him of cancer of the immune system. Much to their surprise, it also cleared him of HIV.
His own immune system was removed with high-dose chemotherapy and radiation before undergoing stem-cell transplant. At that point, he stopped taking HIV medications. After a span of 13 years, he had a relapse of leukemia that required him to receive another stem-cell transplant, from the same donor. 3 years and 6 months passed, and no sign of HIV replication and leukemia in his system, and his health was back to normal.
How did this happen? The answer is traced back to the bone marrow that he received. His donor has rare genetic mutation that made him naturally resistant of HIV. Sadly, the accidental cure may just remain accidental. Why?
- The ideal candidates for cure are healthy people, with no leukemia.
- Only leukemia and lymphoma patients can undergo stem-cell.
- Totally wiping away of the immune system can be fatal, 30% die of it.
- Survivors of the stem-cell transplant may suffer hard-to-deal complications, as such with graft versus host disease, wherein the foreign incorporated cell attacks the new host.
- Possibility of finding compatible match for stem-cell transplant is extremely low, because only 1% of Caucasians carry it.
