Children treated for HIV immediately after birth showed remission of the virus for more than a year after stopping their antiretroviral treatment.
- Four out of six children born with HIV lived free of the virus for more than a year after stopping antiretroviral treatment. They were part of a cohort of newborns who received early treatment in the first 48 hours of life.
- The study authors wanted to replicate the 2013 “Mississippi baby” case, the first documented case of HIV remission in a child born with the virus who received anti-HIV medication at just 30 hours old .
- If the children finally saw their HIV return, doctors say the results are encouraging.
New hope in the fight against AIDS: four children born with HIV lived without the shadow of the virus for more than a year after stopping their antiretroviral treatment. They were part of a cohort of newborns who received early treatment in the first days of life, not after several weeks or months, as is usually the case.
This is the promising result of a recent study published in the journal Lancet HIV and presented this week during the 31st Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), in the United States.
HIV: four out of six children showed remission for more than a year
As part of their work, researchers at the John Hopkins Children’s Center carried out clinical trials in different research centers located in 11 countries. Their goal was to replicate the 2013 “Mississippi baby” case, the first documented case of HIV remission in a child born with the virus who received anti-HIV medication at just 30 hours old. The little girl, apparently cured for a few years, finally tested positive again 4 years later.
The results of this new study, carried out on 54 babies who contracted HIV in the womb and received antiretroviral treatment within 48 hours of birth, showed that the babies – who remained on treatment – had “undetectable levels of HIV in the blood until the age of 2”can we read in a communicated.
In the final phase of the research, six of the children, then around 5 years old, stopped their treatment, while being closely monitored clinically by the researchers. However, four of the children underwent remission (defined by undetectable HIV levels for at least 48 weeks) which lasted between 48 and 80 weeks depending on the profiles. Note that the two other children in the study were not considered in remission, because their virus very quickly became detectable again (3 and 8 weeks), but with “mild acute retroviral syndrome”, to know “flu-like symptoms.”
Treat children born with HIV early, without medication for life
Certainly, all the children in the study ultimately saw their HIV return. But the fact that some of them had no detectable virus for more than a year, without taking antiretroviral treatment, means that it may one day be possible to treat babies born with it early. HIV rather than making them take medication for life.
“This is the first time we have been able to successfully recreate the Mississippi baby case, and in four children, explains doctor Deborah Persaud, who led the work. These results are an important first step in understanding how to reduce HIV reservoirs in children living with the virus and achieve remission and cure without antiretroviral treatment. This could change the treatment paradigm for this infection which currently affects 1.7 million children worldwide.”
