What does a child "cured" of HIV mean for you?
By: Aaron M. Laxton, HIV-Infected Queer, Activist & Blogger
Today, 3/3/13, news came that a 2 1/2 year-old child has been considered "cured" of the HIV virus. As soon as the story hit the wire it began to bounce around via social media and other media outlets around the world. So what exactly does this mean for the those of us living with HIV? While this is great news that supports researchers ideas regarding HIV reservoirs it does not mean that the treatment for an adult currently living with HIV will change.
The announcement regarding the child's clearance of HIV is important since it goes to the direct issue of a child's immune system versus the adult immune system. Additionally the child was treated with abnormally large amounts of ARV drugs and treatment began immediately, within 30 hours of birth; that indicates that she was most likely infected in utero. Most patients will not meet these same conditions however this supports the philosophy that early detection supports improved outcomes.
The doctor treating the child gave higher-than-usual "therapeutic" doses of three powerful HIV drugs rather than the "prophylactic" doses usually given. In the months following treatment the child showed no signs of the virus. Due to the mother's living situation the child fell out of care and treatment was stopped. Once Mississippi state health authorities tracked the mother/child down they discovered that she had stopped giving the girl antiviral drugs six or seven month earlier.
Doctors expected to find that the daughters immune system was showing signs of HIV infection however to their surprise they could detect no sign of the virus. Almost immediately the treating physician took steps to rule out specimen contamination and other considerations that could account for a negative test from the daughter. Since August of 2012 labs in San Diego, Baltimore and Bethesdahave ran ultra-sensation tests on the baby's blood. While intermittently pieces of HIV DNA and RNA have been found there is no indication that the virus is actively replicating in the child's cells.
The importance of this discovery is that it goes directly to theories that researchers have regarding HIV reservoirs. Since the child was treated approximately 30 hours after birth this effectively stopped HIV reservoirs from developing.
While this research is a move in the right direction towards a cure there is a need for guarded optimism as well as context. For those of us living with HIV this news does not mean that we can stop medications or that we will be cured tomorrow. It does however mean that our understanding of HIV is improving.
