The Daily Populous Thursday December 12nd, 2024 morning edition
Authored by abcnews.go.com and submitted by nickkrewson

The Dusseldorf patient is latest to be rid of HIV with no signs of return.

Researchers are announcing that a 53-year-old man in Germany has been cured of HIV.

Referred to as "the Dusseldorf patient" to protect his privacy, researchers said he is the fifth confirmed case of an HIV cure. Although the details of his successful treatment were first announced at a conference in 2019, researchers could not confirm he had been officially cured at that time.

Today, researchers announced the Dusseldorf patient still has no detectable virus in his body, even after stopping his HIV medication four years ago.

"It’s really cure, and not just, you know, long term remission," said Dr. Bjorn-Erik Ole Jensen, who presented details of the case in a new publication in "Nature Medicine."

"This obviously positive symbol makes hope, but there's a lot of work to do," Jensen said

For most people, HIV is a lifelong infection, and the virus is never fully eradicated. Thanks to modern medication, people with HIV can live long and healthy lives.

The Dusseldorf patient joins a small group of people who have been cured under extreme circumstances after a stem cell transplant, typically only performed in cancer patients who don’t have any other options. A stem cell transplant is a high-risk procedure that effectively replaces a person's immune system. The primary goal is to cure someone's cancer, but the procedure has also led to an HIV cure in a handful of cases.

Blood samples are seen in a lab. STOCK PHOTO/ Manuel Romaris/Getty Images

HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, enters and destroys the cells of the immune system. Without treatment, the continued damage can lead to AIDS, or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, where a person cannot fight even a small infection.

With about 38.4 million people globally living with HIV, treatments have come a long way. Modern medication can keep the virus at bay, and studies looking into preventing HIV infection with a vaccine are also underway.

The first person with HIV cure was Timothy Ray Brown. Researchers published his case as the Berlin patient in 2009. That was followed by the London patient published in 2019. Most recently, The City of Hope and New York patients were published in 2022.

“I think we can get a lot of insights from this patient and from these similar cases of HIV cure," Jensen said. "These insights give us some hints where we could go to make the strategy safer."

All four of these patients had undergone stem cell transplants for their blood cancer treatment. Their donors also had the same HIV-resistant mutation that deletes a protein called CCR5, which HIV normally uses to enter the cell. Only 1% of the total population carries this genetic mutation that makes them resistant to HIV.

“When you hear about these HIV cure, it’s obviously, you know, incredible, given how challenging it’s been. But, it still remains the exception to the rule," said Dr. Todd Ellerin, director of infectious disease at South Shore Health.

The stem cell transplantation is a complicated procedure that comes with many risks, and it is too risky to offer it as a cure for everyone with HIV.

However, scientists are hopeful. Each time they cure a new patient, they gain valuable research insights that help them understand what it would take to find a cure for everyone.

“It is obviously a step forward in advancing the science and having us sort of understanding, in some ways, what it takes to cure HIV," Ellerin said.

Kaviya Sathyakumar, M.D., M.B.A., is a family medicine resident physician at Ocala Regional Medical Center in Florida and member of ABC News Medical Unit.

Tevatanlines on December 11st, 2024 at 20:03 UTC »

This is super interesting! We learned from a DNA test that my spouse is a carrier of that anti-HIV gene. I wonder if there’s a voluntary list of folks with that mutation who would be willing to be stem cell donors?

LatrodectusGeometric on December 11st, 2024 at 14:27 UTC »

Doc here. This is NOT a cure you should expect many people with HIV to be able to get, now or in the future. This is because the cure is a bone marrow transplant from a donor who is genetically resistant to HIV infection. This is typically only done for specific severe cancers, because bone marrow transplants come with a ~10% mortality risk just by themselves. It’s awesome that they could get a cure, but the circumstances were dire.

The good news is that we now have a bunch of amazing preventative medications that can keep you from ever getting HIV. These include PrEP pills and injections. We also have medications that can be given immediately (1-3 days) after an exposure to prevent infection. We also have some INCREDIBLE anti-HIV medications. They are so good that 80-90% of people on them will have viral levels in their blood so low that they can’t even be detected by standard tests. People with consistently undetectable HIV viral levels on treatment can’t transmit HIV to others.

People on these medications can live completely normal lives and have a normal expected lifespan if they keep taking them. HIV no longer means guaranteed AIDS and death.

Should you be on HIV PrEP medications? Maybe! Are you:

someone who has been diagnosed with an STI in the last six months?

not always using condoms but regularly having vaginal or anal sex?

a man who has sex with men?

using non-prescribed injectable drugs?

someone who has been prescribed post-exposure prophylaxis for HIV

someone who pays for sex or is paid in goods/services/or money for sex?

a woman who has sex with a man who has sex with men?

a sexual partner to someone living with HIV?

in a community with very high rates of HIV?

If any if those answers is yes, then you should speak to your doctor or local health department clinic about getting on PrEP

Should you get tested for HIV? Are you:

someone above the age of 12 who has never been tested for HIV?

someone who can answer yes to the questions above?

If either if those is yes then you should get tested! Early and consistent treatment = better health in the long run.

YamahaRyoko on December 11st, 2024 at 14:20 UTC »

> All four of these patients had undergone stem cell transplants for their blood cancer treatment. Their donors also had the same HIV-resistant mutation that deletes a protein called CCR5, which HIV normally uses to enter the cell. Only 1% of the total population carries this genetic mutation that makes them resistant to HIV.

This is also the gene that makes people resistant to bubonic plague. Another interesting read

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/mystery-black-death-clues-evidence/1490/