First HIV Positive Man Cured

[EtienneK]

Haven't seen any threads about this. But this is huge news!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/14/hiv-cure-berlin-patient_n_796521.html

On the heels of World AIDS Day comes a stunning medical breakthrough: Doctors believe an HIV-positive man who underwent a stem cell transplant has been cured as a result of the procedure.

Timothy Ray Brown, also known as the "Berlin Patient," received the transplant in 2007 as part of a lengthy treatment course for leukemia. His doctors recently published a report in the journal Blood affirming that the results of extensive testing "strongly suggest that cure of HIV infection has been achieved."

Brown's case paves a path for constructing a permanent cure for HIV through genetically-engineered stem cells.

Last week, Time named another AIDS-related discovery to its list of the Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs of 2010. Recent studies show that healthy individuals who take antiretrovirals, medicine commonly prescribed for treating HIV, can reduce their risk of contracting the disease by up to 73 percent.

While these developments by no means prove a cure for the virus has been found, they can certainly provide hope for the more than 33 million people living with HIV worldwide. Alongside such findings, global efforts to combat the epidemic have accelerated as of late, with new initiatives emerging in the Philippines and South Africa this week.

 

[porchrat]

Old news. I don't know why the Huffington Post decided to only publish a story on it now.

Also you can reduce your risk of contracting HIV by constantly taking ARVs? wow gee that's amazingly great news. I think I will start taking malaria prophylaxis constantly too to prevent Malaria. Just for fun I'm going to take the Malaria meds that cause hallucinations. Great.

 

[killadoob]

Great let's add to our slogans!!!!!

Aids can be cured!!!!!!!!!!!!! Even if it fails for you atleast you can take arv's and live until you are old!!!!!!!!!

 

[copacetic]

I made a thread yesterday, and there is one from 2008.

I think the reason the issue came up in the media again Porchrat, is that they did recent tests which brought to light the fact that he was still healthy or something.

 

[copacetic]

2008 thread

My thread from yesterday.

 

[Nothxkbi]

Old news. I don't know why the Huffington Post decided to only publish a story on it now.

Also you can reduce your risk of contracting HIV by constantly taking ARVs? wow gee that's amazingly great news. I think I will start taking malaria prophylaxis constantly too to prevent Malaria. Just for fun I'm going to take the Malaria meds that cause hallucinations. Great.

You seem positive :twisted:

 

[porchrat]

I made a thread yesterday, and there is one from 2008.

I think the reason the issue came up in the media again Porchrat, is that they did recent tests which brought to light the fact that he was still healthy or something.

Yea fair enough but do we really need sensationalist titles repeating that the dude "is cured" every single time he goes for a follow-up?

The whole article is a pretty poor piece of journalism. I mean.. we can reduce the risk of infection by 73% by constantly taking ARVs? Wow... I mean really... wow. That is such a practical solution... far more practical than condoms.

 

[porchrat]

You seem positive :twisted:

I just despise sensationalism.

 

[copacetic]

Yea fair enough but do we really need sensationalist titles repeating that the dude "is cured" every single time he goes for a follow-up?

The whole article is a pretty poor piece of journalism. I mean.. we can reduce the risk of infection by 73% by constantly taking ARVs? Wow... I mean really... wow. That is such a practical solution... far more practical than condoms.

I thought the excitement was over the stem cell thing?

*edit*

The ARV thing is indeed ridiculous.

 

[xrapidx]

good luck taking ARV's constantly .... they make you sick as hell.

 

[porchrat]

I thought the excitement was over the stem cell thing?

*edit*

The ARV thing is indeed ridiculous.

Yea but why the all this excitement over something from 2 years ago where the dude has had a follow-up? Why scream "OMGZORS HE'S CURED!!!!1!!!" when it's just a follow-up from a few years ago? Just silly.

good luck taking ARV's constantly .... they make you sick as hell.

Indeed they do. Besides that 28day dose you take for exposure is effective at stopping the initial infection. The idea of ARVs as long-term prophylaxis is really silly.

 

[reedOsama]

You seem positive :twisted:

love what you did there

 

[xrapidx]

Indeed they do. Besides that 28day dose you take for exposure is effective at stopping the initial infection. The idea of ARVs as long-term prophylaxis is really silly.

Is it only 28 days? I thought it was longer... I thought I was dying on that crap... couldn't eat, lost tons of weight... and then the 3/6 month waits for testing is the worse.

 

[copacetic]

Yea but why the all this excitement over something from 2 years ago where the dude has had a follow-up? Why scream "OMGZORS HE'S CURED!!!!1!!!" when it's just a follow-up from a few years ago? Just silly.

Well, probably because two years is a long time for something to fade from the public consciousness and it was interesting.

My personal motivation was actually more the stem cell issue and the fact that people work to stop research in that area for bronze age reasons.

And as you say, media = sensationalistic vultures.

 

[porchrat]

Is it only 28 days? I thought it was longer... I thought I was dying on that crap... couldn't eat, lost tons of weight... and then the 3/6 month waits for testing is the worse.

Yup only 28 days.

Weirdly enough some people don't have a negative reaction to ARVs. Lucky bastards.

 

[Alan]

Yea fair enough but do we really need sensationalist titles repeating that the dude "is cured" every single time he goes for a follow-up?

The whole article is a pretty poor piece of journalism. I mean.. we can reduce the risk of infection by 73% by constantly taking ARVs? Wow... I mean really... wow. That is such a practical solution... far more practical than condoms.

You expect to find journalism at huffingtonpost :wtf:

 

[Datura]

Why are huffingtonpost appearing in almost all my Google results? It is a piss-poor site that is not worth visiting for any other reason than to see what a piss-poor site is like.

 

[DigitalSoldier]

Huffington Post FAIL!

Another example of their bad journalism from PZ Myers blog:

Jebus, but I despise that fluffy, superficial, Newagey site run by the flibbertigibbet Ariana. I will not be linking to it, but if you must, you can just search for this recent article: "Darwin May Have Been WRONG, New Study Argues". I don't recommend it. It sucks. Read the title, and you've already got the false sensationalism of the whole story down cold.

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/08/curl_up_and_die_already_huffpo.php

 

[Fudzy]

So those chaps in Shongweni who are smoking ARVs must feel pretty inpentrable afterwards.

Agreed on the *** story part. I can't count the number of times I've gotten excited over a breakthrough like this only to find its got a gigantic asterisk after the statement.

 

[Zyzzyva]

...and before anybody gets ahead of themselves:

They basically replaced the man's entire bone stem cell population with a donor's to "cure" him. Which only works for one type of the virus. Which only works if you have an exact match for a bone marrow donor. Which only works if the exact match happens to have the super rare CCR5-32 mutation that makes them immune to that one type of virus. And you get to take immunosuppressants for the rest of your life because you have another dude's bone marrow in you.

What happened is that this man had his immune system almost completely destroyed to defeat leukemia, and received stem cells from a donor with the mutation CCR5 known for its reduced risk of HIV infection.