The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
    • Shows & On demand
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

Current affairs

Baby born with HIV is cured in a groundbreaking case

Baby born with HIV is cured in a groundbreaking case
4 March 2013
Patrick Corby
Avatar
Patrick Corby
4 March 2013

The first documented case of a child being cured of the HIV virus was revealed on 3rd March.

The baby girl from Mississippi, whose mother was diagnosed with HIV but did not receive any pre-natal treatment, started a concoction of three separate anti-viral drugs just hours after birth, before an official diagnosis.

The child stopped taking the concoction at 18 months, but at 23 months doctors have found that the now two year shows no signs of the infection and is “functionally cured”, said a medical team yesterday at a conference held in Atlanta.

The results were reported at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, a gathering of 4,000 infectious disease researchers that meet to discuss research and share results every year.

Director of Research at the Foundation for Aids Research, Rowena Johnston, explained: “The child’s pediatrician in Mississippi was aware of the work we were doing and quickly notified our team as soon as this young patient’s case came to her attention.”

It has been theorised that the immediacy of the administration of the antiviral drugs could have stopped the HIV virus from forming deep reservoirs that normally make it impossible to fully cure.

Further tests and studies will now be rigorously examined to assess the strength of the case and if this “new-born” approach is confirmed it could help towards curing the 300,000 children infected each year with the HIV virus.

Hannah Gay, one of the doctors that treated the infant at the University of Mississippi in Jackson, USA, has reiterated that: “There would be scores of babies that would benefit if we can find a strategy for intervention that allows us to make this happen in other babies.”

In recent years there has been a strengthened effort by pharmaceutical companies including Merck & Co, Johnson & Johnson and Gilead Sciences Inc, all of which are driving funds to Research and Analysis for the study of HIV medication.

“Where our goal was prevention, now our goal can be a cure and that is a major shift in the field of HIV,” said Deborah Persaud, an associate professor of infectious disease at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Maryland.

Patrick Corby

Related Items

More in Current Affairs

Changes to expect during menopause

The editorial unit
Read More

Nek brings Italian pop rock to the Shepherd’s Bush Empire

The editorial unit
Read More

Why Equity Linked Savings Schemes is a preferred tax saving?

The editorial unit
Read More

How the world’s top designers would rebrand political parties

The editorial unit
Read More

Royal baby furore: Proof that the British monarchy is still popular?

Eoin O’Sullivan-Harris
Read More

World Mental Health Day 2018: Raising awareness and combating stigma

The editorial unit
Read More

Seven political personalities you should know about

The editorial unit
Read More

Donald Trump: An enemy of the arts?

The editorial unit
Read More

Trump’s fortune: Where did the money come from?

The editorial unit
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Female filmmakers lead nominees for the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards
    Cinema
  • An interview with Ifrah Ismael: Tales from the Front Line and other stories
    Theatre
  • Persian Lessons
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Jeremiah Fraites – Piano Piano
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Lonely the Brave – The Hope List
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Live Lab at The Yard Theatre: An interview with associate director Cheryl Gallagher
    Theatre
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • We Ask These Questions of Everybody: An interview with Amble Skuse and Toria Banks
    Theatre
  • Hello Cosmos – Dream Harder
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Public Domain at Southwark Playhouse
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • WandaVision: Marvel’s charming sitcom proves an astounding success
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • The Queen’s Gambit: A chess story that’s not about the moves but the motives
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Undercover at Morpheus Show Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Ten short literary collections to get you back into reading
    Literature
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

British Cardinal admits sexual conduct “has fallen below the standards expected”
Police officials murdered as Kenya takes to the polls‏