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How Did the 'Berlin Patient' Rid Himself of HIV?
sciencehabit writes: Researchers are closer to unraveling the mystery of how Timothy Ray Brown, the only human cured of HIV, defeated the virus, according to a new study. Although the work doesn't provide a definitive answer, it rules out one possible explanation. [R]esearchers point to three different factors that could independently or in combination have rid Brown’s body of HIV. The first is the process of conditioning, in which doctors destroyed Brown’s own immune system with chemotherapy and whole body irradiation to prepare him for his bone marrow transplant. His oncologist, Gero Hütter, who was then with the Free University of Berlin, also took an extra step that he thought might not only cure the leukemia but also help rid Brown’s body of HIV. He found a bone marrow donor who had a rare mutation in a gene that cripples a key receptor on white blood cells the virus uses to establish an infection. (For years, researchers referred to Brown as "the Berlin patient.") The third possibility is his new immune system attacked remnants of his old one that held HIV-infected cells, a process known as graft versus host disease.
He can't die, you fool, unless his head comes away from his neck.
now that he's outed, expect a seven-foot lunatic with a sword to come after him.
Does the subject possess any mysterious rings, amulets, or lamps?
Does he make sacrifices to chthonic gods, and if so, which?
Did he recently undertake a quest to bring together a collection of ancient magic gems?
Is the hospital frequented by a wizard or a druid cult?
I appreciate the work they did, but when they don't even consider the patient being swapped with his twin from an alternate dimension it's hard to call it rigorous.
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
there are only 2 things here:
1. radiation treatment
2. bone marrow from an x-man
my money is on #2.
Looks like those curses from god just ain't what they used to be. :-)
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
I think the patient in Berlin now has a Wall to isolate himself from incorporated viral entrepreneurs.
Please, try being a Pastafarian. I get cursed with a terminal disease at least once before my morning coffee. Considering our vengeful god, it is amazing any of us still alive.
Partially due to above circumstances, on a long enough scale, Pastafarian mortality approaches 100%.