Brazil, first remission from HIV for man treated only with a mix of drugs

2020-07-08T11:39:36.546Z

A man treated with a new drug mix may be the first to be cured of HIV infection without the need for a bone marrow transplant, as happened to the only two other people known to whom the virus was eradicated. The patient's case in São Paulo was described at the AIDS 2020 conference. The man, experts from the federal university of São Paulo explain, stopped the treatments in March 2019 and the virus has so far not returned. The 36-year-old patient, who has been HIV-positive since 2012, participated in the experimentation of a therapy aimed at flushing out the virus from the "reservoirs" in his cells and which make him return if the usual treatments are stopped. The man, they explained during the ongoing conference in virtual form, was treated with an "aggressive" mix of antiretrovirals and nicotinamide (vitamin B3). Once therapy was stopped, his blood was tested every three weeks, with no signs of infection. "Even if it is an isolated case - Ricardo Diaz, one of the researchers involved in the New York Times - could be the first long-term remission of HIV without a transplant". The patient of Saint Paul could therefore be added to those of London and "Berlin", but recovered with a bone marrow transplant received for a tumor. A boy treated with a mix of drugs and who has been in remission for two years instead saw the return of the virus.