When he was diagnosed with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in 1988, he thought it was a death sentence for him, but after 31 years, he managed to live with the virus and became the fourth person to be cured of illness.
It was in 2019 when, after receiving a stem cell transplant, the remission of the infection began in his body with a decrease, disappearance of signs and symptoms, and at 66 years of age, he is the one who has lived the longest with HIV before to receive a stem cell transplant.
He never thought he would live to see the day he would no longer be a carrier of HIV, because after a little more than three decades the man, whose identity was not disclosed, also developed leukemia, a probable consequence in those living with it. virus, and almost three years after the transplant and more than 17 months in remission, he no longer shows any evidence of the disease.
The older adult, the oldest to date of those who have overcome HIV, shows no evidence of virus replication by blood or tissue samples. In the same way, he is the person who, due to his leukemia, received the least immunosuppressive therapy so far, promising evidence.
Transplant
The case of this 66-year-old man in California is another one that opens the possibility of continuing to search for a solution against HIV, which annually leaves a large number of deaths. It was presented by the City of Hope clinical research center at the XXIV International AIDS Conference (Aids) in 2022.
The treatment that was initially applied to him was to treat the leukemia that he suffered from, whose therapy was able to help counteract his HIV infection, since after the transplant of stem cells from a volunteer donor who had a rare genetic mutation of the homozygous CCR5 delta 32 , resistance was created, and this type of mutation has shown that it is resistant to most strains of HIV.
In that regard, this study is an indication to specialists that if an older patient who develops blood cancers can find the right stem cell donor, new and less intensive chemotherapy regimens can be given to achieve dual remission of the cancer. HIV and cancer.
The disease and treatments
The human immunodeficiency virus damages the immune system and puts the patient at risk of serious infections and some types of cancer, because it destroys white blood cells that fight infection. However, it is the stage prior to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), which means the final stage of the infection, because the body is very damaged by the virus.
It is transmitted through unprotected sexual intercourse; by contact with the blood of a person with the infection and, among others, from mother to child during pregnancy, childbirth or lactation, specified the infectologist Rommer Franco.
He pointed out that what must be clear is that, if the person with the infection is not treated, he becomes a chronic patient who, although he does not show symptoms, the virus weakens his immune system, thus advancing to AIDS.
It adds that a person with some other sexually transmitted infection is at risk of contracting or transmitting HIV, among others with various conditions such as those who inject drugs with shared needles.
Franco added that the existing treatments for HIV and AIDS are certain medications, because so far there is no cure for the infection. The available drugs are known as antiretroviral therapy, which allow the disease to be manageable.
According to the World Health Organization, HIV is one of the biggest problems for global public health and more than 38 million people live with the infection, and in 2021 alone, the deaths were about 650,000. The reports of the international entity refer that in Latin America the average number of new cases per year is 100,000.
Antecedent
The first person known to be cured of HIV is Timothy Brown, who received a bone marrow transplant and lived free of the virus for 12 years until he died in 2020, but due to cancer.
The second is the Venezuelan Adam Castillejo residing in London, and known as the London Patient, because he received a stem cell transplant to treat lymphoma, and it made him resistant to HIV. He already has more than two years without the active virus.
The third is a 30-year-old Argentine whose identity is unknown. She contracted the virus in 2013, and without using drugs she managed to sterilize the virus.
It is considered an elite controller of which some studies refer to control of the virus. They can counteract without resorting to treatment and it has to do with their defense system and production.