BABY CURED OF AIDS? NOT SO FAST SAY SOME SCIENTISTS

courtesy: dailymail

Recent news of a baby cured of HIV due to an aggressive approach soon after birth has hit the news like wildfire.

Already some African countries are demanding that the 'cure' be implimented over there as most of the subsaharan continent is struggling with the deadly epidemic.

But the news of the groundbreaking discovery has already caused a backlash.  

Not so fast say some.  And who says it is even more important.

Prof. Luc Montaigner, the grandfather of Aids, the one who is credited with its discovery, thinks that the news of such 'breakthrough' should be tamped down by a good dose of medical wisdom.

In effect, when looking at the case, it is evident that the virus has not been completely eradicated from the baby's body, but its count is so low, that doctors are claiming that the baby is cured because the numbers are too low to create the pathology of an active HIV infection.

But it still remains in the body of the child.  To say unequivocally that the child is cured is premature.  Especially with a retrovirus as insidious and resilient as HIV. 

In effect, when the virus goes or return to 'dormant' stage, much like the 'retro' portion of its virology, when its numbers are very low and almost undetectable, it can stay in such a state for a number of years, until it is on the move again.  

Such change could occur for a number of reasons.  It could be that the child's immune system weakens, or that the virus strengthens.  Either way a person cannot be considered 'cured' until there is incontrovertible proof that the virus is indeed inactive for a good number of years.  

So to say that the child has been cured only two years after the aggressive therapy she received soon after birth is not taking into consideration all the complexities associated with the virus.

There is also the possibility that the child was never infected to begin with.  Only one third of the babies born from HIV mothers is actually infected.  Since therapy began before the disease was actually established might have precluded a definite diagnosis of HIV infection.

In addition, this is not a completely new development in the treatment of AIDS.  In July of 2012 a study was published of a treatment trial done on a group of adult patients which showed that aggressive treatment of the disease in its very early stages caused it to become undetectable and six years after treatment the virus still had reactivated in the people who had received such early treatment.

Partial Source: France 24/ 3.5.13