A man from Brazil is set to become the first person in the world to be cured of HIV by experimental drug treatment alone. The 34-year-old was diagnosed with HIV in 2012 and used AVR for a year and is now set to become the first person to come close to overcoming an incurable disease.
Along with this person, 4 other people were also made part of the experimental treatment but only he was able to recover.
The researchers will present their findings at the International AIDS Society conference, but said more analysis is needed.
The Brazilian is one of only three people in the world to have survived the disease.
The patient underwent conventional AVR treatment for the first 2 months and was then made part of a clinical trial in which he was treated with ART as well as the HIV drugs dolutegravir and marivoc, as well as a type of vitamin B. Nicotinamide was also given.
Nicotinamide plays a role in fighting the virus in infected cells, destroying them and stimulating the immune system.
The patient underwent one year of treatment and was removed from the trial in March 2019.
Since then it has been tested every 3 weeks and no viral load or antibodies have been detected even after one year.
Professor Sharon Lyon, an HIV and epidemiologist at the University of Melbourne, who was not part of the study, said the fact that the patient had no antibodies was important.
He said that antibodies are formed when a person is infected with a virus and the absence of any antibodies in the patient reinforces the idea that he has recovered.
However, he said that it was necessary to keep in mind that this was just a patient and the published results were published as a case report instead of a textbook.
Dr. Ricardo Diaz of the University of S ساo Paulo, who led the study, said he had tried to awaken the virus and boost the immune system so that it could eliminate the hidden virus at once.
“We do not examine the whole body, but in the best results we have not been able to detect the affected cells. I think it is very encouraging. This patient has probably recovered, but his final decision will take some time,” he said. It will happen later.
If this new experimental treatment works in other patients, it will be a huge breakthrough.
At present, HIV patients have to use medication to suppress the viral load for life.
This is not the first time that scientists have found a way to eradicate the HIV virus.
Earlier in 2007, a patient named Timothy Brown, who underwent a bone marrow transplant to treat leukemia, was declared healthy and is still safe a decade later.
Similarly, another patient, Ed Casteljo, made headlines last year when he was declared HIV-free through stem cells from a genetically resistant donor