SECOND CASE OF APPARENT HIV CURE IN BABY FOLLOWED BY REAPPEARANCE OF VIRUS
The case report published in The Lancet, is the second report of apparent viral remission
followed by rebound in a baby given early ART treatment, after the case of the
'Mississippi baby' received widespread attention in 2013―14
A team of researchers,
including Professor Mario Clerici at the University of Milan and the Don
Gnocchi Foundation in Milan, Italy, report that the baby―born to an
HIV-positive mother in December 2009―appeared to have been cured of HIV at age
three years, after intensive ART treatment was begun shortly after birth.
Tests to measure the
amount of HIV in the child's blood (viral load) indicated that the virus had
been eradicated. Notably, even antibodies to HIV had disappeared, showing that
the baby was no longer seropositive and, with the agreement of the child's mother,
ART was stopped.
However, two weeks
later, the child's HIV tests came back positive, leading the researchers to
conclude that the viral reservoirs had not been eliminated by ART, despite the
virus being undetectable for more than 3 years.
There are differences
between this case, and that of the Mississippi baby (as well as the 'Berlin
patient' Timothy Ray Brown, thought to be the only adult to be cured of HIV);
importantly, the child's immune system continued to show multiple signs of
responding to HIV infection even after the viral load became undetectable,
which was not the case for either the Mississippi baby or the Berlin patient.
The authors also
suggest that the child's high viral load at birth, as well as an infection
while in the womb, and low birthweight, may have also precluded long-lasting
viral remission.
The case report
concludes that, "The availability of many classes of potent antiretroviral
drugs has substantially decreased HIV morbidity and mortality, but these drugs
cannot eradicate the virus because they do not eliminate viral reservoirs. The
search for an HIV cure continues."
Comments
Post a Comment