Discovery Provides Clues for Potentially Eliminating HIV Infection in Other ChildrenEditor’s note: NIH issued this news release this afternoon about findings announced at the 2013 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections on Monday, March 4, 2013. Dr. PersaudA two-year-old child born with HIV infection and treated with antiretroviral drugs beginning in the first days of life no longer has detectable levels of virus using conventional testing despite not taking HIV medication for 10 months, according to findings presented today at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Atlanta.
This is the first well-documented case of an HIV-infected child who appears to have been functionally cured of HIV infection—that is, without detectable levels of virus and no signs of disease in the absence of antiretroviral therapy.
Further research is needed to understand whether the experience of the child can be replicated in clinical trials involving other HIV-exposed children, according to the investigators.
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