For the third time in a few years, researchers have announced AIDS cure cases. Two HIV-positive people from Boston, United States, received a bone marrow transplant to treat leukemia two and five years ago, respectively. Several weeks ago, they stopped their antiretroviral treatment, and no trace of HIV was observed, rejoices Dr. Timothy Henrich, of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, at the conference of the International Aids Society in Malaysia.
These functional healings come in addition to another similar case, that of an American living in Berlin, Timothy Ray Brown, who also underwent a bone marrow transplant in 2007 and no longer shows any trace of the disease. A newborn baby, infected during pregnancy by his HIV-positive mother, was also treated last March.
Cautious enthusiasm
While finding these results “exciting”, Timothy Henrich recalls that it is still too early to claim victory: “They are doing very well. But this does not yet indicate that these men are cured. The virus can return in a week. , or six months. Only time will tell. “
These healing cases reinforce suspicions about the role of the bone marrow in AIDS disease. The researchers explain this reaction by assuming that the healthy bone marrow that was transplanted could be protected by the antiretroviral treatment the patients were undergoing at the time of the operation. Scientists prefer to remain cautious because some form of the virus could still be present in the body of patients, even if these results remain very encouraging at the level of medical research.
