First man ‘functionally cured’ of HIV

I was surprised to read this article. I have been hearing about this before and I finally found articles relating to this story. At first I was amazed to know that, yes, there is a big hope for people living with HIV to be cured. This can be a start of a break though in fighting the virus and slowly but surely stop the spread of it. I hope that even if he is the first, he wouldn't be the last to be cured of HIV.

However, it would still be advisable to everyone to practice safe sex all the time despite the fact that there are advancements being discovered. With this habit, we will be able to ensure lesser chance of getting the virus and would not wait for the cure to be available for everyone.

First man ‘functionally cured’ of HIV

Since HIV was discovered 30 years ago this week, 30 million people have died from the disease, and it continues to spread at the rate of7,000 people per day globally, the UN says.

There's not much good news when it comes to this devastating virus. But that is perhaps why the story of the man scientists call the "Berlin patient" is so remarkable and has generated so much excitement among the HIV advocacy community.

Timothy Ray Brown suffered from both leukemia and HIV when he received a bone marrow stem cell transplant in Berlin, Germany in 2007. The transplant came from a man who was immune to HIV, which scientists say about 1 percent of Caucasians are. (According to San Francisco's CBS affiliate, the trait may be passed down from ancestors who became immune to the plague centuries ago. This Wired story says it was more likely passed down from people who became immune to a smallpox-like disease.)
What happened next has stunned the dozens of scientists who are closely monitoring Brown: His HIV went away.

Read Complete Article HERE

Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/

If you like reading the said article from Yahoo, you might also be interested in reading this article from CBS San Francisco:
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/05/16/apparent-immunity-gene-cures-bay-area-man-of-aids/

Posted in: HIV Awareness