In an almost-unprecedented medical milestone, a baby born with the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, the precursor to AIDS, appears to have been cured of the infection after being treated with an aggressive new drug regimen.
Baby Born With HIV Cured By Aggressive New Treatment
It is only the second documented case of a person being entirely cured of HIV infection.
The case results were reported by researchers at a news conference on Sunday in advance of their presentation at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Atlanta on Monday, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The researchers announced that a Mississippi child born with HIV had been completely cured of the infection following birth about 2-1/2 years ago.
“You could call this about as close to a cure, if not a cure, that we’ve seen,” Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health told the Associated Press.
The mother of the baby was found to be HIV-positive during labor, causing doctors at a rural Mississippi hospital to drastically change their approach to the child during delivery. Soon after the birth, physicians began an intensive three-drug treatment much stronger than is typically recommended for an infant.