Baby born with HIV might be 'cured'

A baby born with HIV now, three years later, appears to be in remission from the virus. Doctors have announced that they have strong evidence that suggests that the young girl is now in extended remission, suggesting that a successful treatment for HIV could be around the corner.

Testing was performed in order to ascertain whether the girl was truly born with HIV due to the fact that her recovery from the virus has been so complete. Doctors thought that it could have been the case that the tests for the disease were positive as she had been exposed to her mother's blood, who had the virus, according to the Associated Press.

However, a report, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, confirmed that she had indeed been born with HIV. As a result of this fact, she underwent 18 months of intensive treatment against the virus. Since it was confirmed that she was in remission, all treatments were ceased and she has yet to develop signs of infection after this fact.

Although it appears as though the treatment used has 'cured' the girl, doctors are currently cautious about saying that she is entirely cured. At the moment it is not known if she will remain HIV free as she gets older and testing will be needed to ensure that the virus does not reappear.

Doctor Katherine Luzuriaga, an AIDS expert at the University of Massachusetts who was involved in caring for the baby, said: “We want to be very cautious here. We’re calling it remission because we’d like to observe the child for a longer time and be absolutely sure there’s no rebound."

Further testing is also required to see whether such an aggressive form of treatment would be suitable for other babies that are born with the virus. It is not yet known whether the results of treatment would be replicable in a wider group of patients.

Doctor Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said: “At minimum, the baby is in a clear remission. It is possible that the baby has actually been cured. We don’t have a definition for cure as we do for certain cancers, where after five years or so you can be relatively certain the person is not going to go and relapse."