HIV-Positive Patient 'Cured;' Scientists More Optimistic About Possible End to AIDS
Timothy Ray Brown, the first patient ever to be cured of aids, was suffering not only by the symptoms caused by HIV but of leukemia as well.
For more than a decade Tim, now known as the "Berlin Patient" for being treated in the city, was infected by HIV but afer two years of having underwent an experimental bone marrow transplant, containing cells that were known to be immune and resistant to HIV, doctor's weren't able to detect any HIV in his blood.
The patient also stopped taking antiretroviral medications, taken by HIV positive patients to control the immunosystem crippling virus. And as of December 2010, almost three years after the experimental surgery, Brown's blood stream still remained HIV-free which begged to entitle him as "cured" from AIDS.
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"He has no replicating virus and he isn't taking any medication. And he will now probably never have any problems with HIV," said Timothy's doctor and oncologist, Gero Huetter, according to Reuters.
Although this news may have been extraordinary for Brown, many oncologists pointed out that bone marrow surgeries can indeed be lethal and that for Brown, doctor's didn't know about the outcomes when they started the procedure.
According to Yahoo! News, scientists stated that applying the same dangerous procedure to treat 33.3 million infected patients was out of the question but that according to Dr. Jay Levy who co-discovered the AIDS virus 30 years ago this discovery would encourage further "cure, research".
AIDS has long been hailed of as a disease with no cure with scientists being very careful to make new pronouncements regarding any new found advancements in research. Brown's case however has proved to be a new light in the medical horizon inspiring scientists to test new ideas which in some cases have reaped success(for the success stories click here).
