Argentine defeats "AIDS" and recovers from it without treatment and baffles scientists
In a rare medical case that sparked a lot of controversy associated with confusion, among doctors and scientists, an Argentine woman managed to defeat the acquired immunodeficiency virus (AIDS), and got rid of it permanently without obtaining medication or treatment, which is the second documented case of its kind in the world.
According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
Doctors believe that the patient's immune system overcame the virus on its own and got rid of it permanently.
Tests conducted on more than one billion cells of the woman's body revealed that there was no trace of infection with the virus.
These results are further evidence that few people are born with the natural resilience to deal with the AIDS virus, and some have genes that prevent infection.
It appears that others, including the Argentine patient known as the “Speranza patient”, may contract the virus and then eliminate it.
In recent years, there have been reports of so-called "elite controllers" who can eradicate HIV, and although they have access to medical help, they do not have access to antiretroviral medication.
It is not clear how long this advantage may last in the patient and whether he will be infected again.
Despite the concern about the return of the virus, the Argentine Esperanza patient, for more than eight years, has been without any new trace of the virus in her cells.
"There may be a practical path to getting a cell-cleansing therapy for people who are unable to do it on their own," said lead researcher Dr. Zhou Yu, from the Ragon Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital, MIT and Harvard in the US.
He added, "We are now looking at the possibility of stimulating this type of immunity in people receiving antiviral treatment, through vaccination, with the aim of developing their immune systems to be able to control the virus without antiviral treatment."
Professor John Frater, from the University of Oxford, told BBC News that while it was nearly impossible to determine whether a person had actually cured HIV, researchers had done everything they could be asked with current technology to prove it.
"The main question is whether this patient really healed himself or was he suffering from some form of a weak infection, which tried to develop but was dealt with early," he said.
He added that the Argentine patient's immune system clearly shows her pathological memory and infection, "and this confirms that she was actually infected."
He noted that regardless of this case, there may be similar conditions out there, and it offers us a lot to learn in the search for a cure for HIV.
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