'Boston Patients' Still HIV Free After Quitting Antiretroviral Meds

ananyo writes "Two men with HIV may have been cured after they received stem-cell transplants to treat the blood cancer lymphoma, their doctors announced today at the International AIDS Society Conference in Kuala Lumpur. One of the men received stem-cell transplants to replace his blood-cell-producing bone marrow about three years ago, and the other five years ago. Their regimens were similar to one used on Timothy Ray Brown, the 'Berlin patient' who has been living HIV-free for six years and is the only adult to have been declared cured of HIV. Last July, doctors announced that the two men — the 'Boston patients' — appeared to be living without detectable levels of HIV in their blood, but they were still taking antiretroviral medications at that time." The story reports that they have only been off of medication for seven and fifteen weeks and they won't know for a year, but signs are looking positive.

Comments

Re:Summary misses a small detail.

[ddq]

Life tends to kill you eventually.

Re:Summary misses a small detail.

[SirGarlon]

Unless I'm mistaken, that's what they used to say about chemotherapy. Finding ways to help patients survive the therapy may be an easier problem than finding ways to help them survive the disease.