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AIDS agency ‘greatly encouraged’ by latest scientific breakthrough showing cure is possible
07.03.2019 15:11 "Agro Perspectiva" (Kyiv) —
A new case of a patient who has been «functionally cured» of HIV infection, is greatly encouraging, but there is still a long way to go before the illness can be eradicated, UN Radio says referring to the UNAIDS (United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS) report.
It is to be admitted, the male patient, who was being treated for lymphatic cancer at a London hospital within the United Kingdom, underwent a stem cell transplant within 2016, with cells from a donor carrying a rare genetic resistance to the HIV virus.
Both his cancer and HIV went into remission, and 18 months on, he is no longer taking HIV drugs and all traces of infection have become undetectable, according to doctors treating him. Researchers reportedly say that it is too early, however, to say the patient has been fully cured.
«UNAIDS is greatly encouraged by the news that an HIV-positive man has been functionally cured of HIV», said the agency in a press statement.
«Although this breakthrough is complicated and much more work is needed, it gives us great hope for the future that we could potentially end AIDS with science, through a vaccine or a cure,» said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS.
«However, it also shows how far away we are from that point,» he added saying it emphasized «the absolute importance of continuing to focus HIV prevention and treatment efforts.»
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