For the first time, a woman has been cured of HIV: New form of therapy eliminates potentially deadly viruses in the body

Created: 02/17/2022, 12:38 p.m

By: Juliane Gutmann

A blood test shows whether you are HIV positive.

© Marijan Murat/dpa

HIV infection can trigger AIDS.

For a long time, the disease was considered incurable.

But a new type of therapy eliminates the virus in the long term.

AIDS and HIV are not the same diseases.

HIV is a virus that attacks the cells of the immune system, multiplies there and can damage the immune system immensely.

caused by viruses, bacteria and fungi, which are usually harmless in healthy people, the Apotheken Umschau informs.

According to the German Aids Aid, if the body is very weakened by the HIV infection, various symptoms can occur, such as long-lasting swelling of the lymph nodes, shingles (herpes zoster), fever and even nerve damage in the arms and legs.

Doctors speak of AIDS when serious illnesses occur as a result of the HIV infection

, for example fungal infections in the esophagus and trachea or certain types of cancer.

Even less than 200 helper cells per microliter of blood lead to the diagnosis "AIDS", as the German Aidshilfe informs.

If detected early and with the help of medication, an HIV infection can be controlled, which means that patients can lead a largely normal life with a normal life expectancy, according to Apotheken Umschau.

However, an infection with HI viruses has not yet been considered curable.

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Stem cell therapy against HIV infection

Californian researchers treated a 60-year-old woman with HIV with a novel form of stem cell therapy.

The patient has now been virus-free for 14 months.

This is the third time researchers have succeeded in declaring a person infected with HIV to be cured.

The two previously published cases involved men.

In the new case, the patient was diagnosed with an HIV infection in June 2013, as reported by the researchers led by Yvonne Bryson from the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of Los Angeles.

She was then put on medication to keep the virus under control.

The focus was on the treatment of blood cancer, but there was a positive side effect

: since the treatment, the woman has been classified as HIV-negative.

According to the researchers, the woman is the first HIV patient to be treated with stem cells from umbilical cord blood.

These came from a donor who is immune to HIV thanks to a rare mutation in the CCR5 gene (CCR5-Delta 32), the Frankfurter Allgemeine informed.

In addition, thanks to the stem cell therapy, the woman is said to have been cured of her blood cancer.