Two HIV Positive Men have been cleared of the Virus. The two men with both HIV and cancer have now tested negative for the virus that is said to cause AIDS. This development is raising hope that science may be on the brink of discovering a cure for the Immune Deficiency that leads to full blow AIDS.
The two men who received bone marrow transplants two years ago have now shown lower levels of White Blood cells in their blood. The Western Blot is an HIV test that looks for high levels of white blood cells, indicating that a person is HIV Positive. A high White Blood cell count indicates the body is putting up a fight against a virus.
The medical community researching the case is cautious in declaring the two men cured, but are excited because HIV can’t be detected anywhere in their bodies. These two new cases are very similar to the “Berlin patient,” the only person known to have been cured of infection from the human immunodeficiency virus.
Two HIV Positive Men have been cleared of the Virus
According to medicalxpress.com: ”One patient’s bone marrow transplant was two years ago, the other was four years ago. Both were performed at the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center. Over time, as the patients’ cells were replaced by donor cells, traces of HIV were lost. Currently, both patients have no detectable HIV DNA or RNA in their blood. The level of HIV antibody, a measure of exposure to HIV, also declined in both men.”
The U.S. researchers suspect that bone marrow transplantation along with continuation of antiretroviral therapy resulted in the dramatic effects evident eight months post-transplant. These two cases, presented as a “late-breaker” finding on Thursday at the 19th annual International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C., are among the reasons that scientists have been speaking so openly at the event about their hopes of finding a cure.
