The historic medical achievement was reported as an unnamed two and a half year old from the state of Mississippi was found to no longer require medication for HIV and now has a normal life expectancy.
The Guardian reports that the baby girl was cared for by medical staff at the University of Mississippi. The findings were revealed on Sunday at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Atlanta.
“Now, after at least one year of taking no medicine, this child’s blood remains free of virus even on the most sensitive tests available,” said Dr Hannah Gay.
“We expect that this baby has great chances for a long, healthy life. We are certainly hoping that this approach could lead to the same outcome in many other high-risk babies.” continued Dr Gay.
“This is a proof of concept that HIV can be potentially curable in infants,” said Dr Deborah Persaud of the University of Baltimore.
The baby was put on a cocktail of HIV-fighting drugs just 30 hours after she was born, and was treated for 18 months, until her mother stopped bringing her to appointments. 10 months later she was brought back under the care of Dr Gay, who was unable to detect any level of HIV infection.
Research will continue to attempt to discover more about the child’s immune system and how the apparent cure came about.
