By: Steven Hu

Over 38 million people are living with HIV, HIV is a virus that will attack your immune system, and make other viruses have an easier time attacking your body. HIV is particularly dangerous because it also helps different versions of cancer cells to reach the immune system. This Wednesday, a 66-year-old man received a stem cell transplant which cured his HIV.

Doctors researched until they found a unique case where this extremely rare stem cell was used, and they were able to cure their patient. They are now turning to gene editing with hopes that they can create the mutation that cured the patient.

Bone transplants are a way to help patients with HIV. Although chances of survival can be slim, most cancer patients with HIV are recommended to undergo this operation.

Currently the world has no cure for HIV. However, we are getting closer and closer. The search for the cure started in 1987 with prescriptions, then in 2012 doctors discovered a vaccine, and finally in 2017, they made an antiretroviral therapy which allows patients to survive for 54 more years.

Another patient who was diagnosed with HIV in 1988, also received a rare stem cell transplant. After the transplant, he took antiretroviral therapy for another year and a half. Now he is fine and doing amazing.

Timothy Brown was also a patient cured from HIV. After he was healthy, he dedicated his life to finding the cure for HIV. Brown even vowed Hyper link” I will not stop until HIV is cured”. Sadly, he passed away from Leukemia in 2020. He was only 54 years old.

Doctors are getting extremely close to the answer. They already found the rare stem cell mutation but they just need a way of getting it out safely. Eileen Scully, of John Hopkins said, “The message to people living with HIV is that this is a signal of hope.”