Another Person With HIV Has Been Cured

A report came out on Tuesday suggests that a man with HIV in London has been freed of the virus for the last 30 months without taking anymore medication. What he has received was an experimental stem cell transplant. Scientists said that it was highly likely that he had been cured, the second case ever documented.

Four years ago, the man received a marrow transplant to cure his blood cancer but the donor also has a rare mutation that make him unable to be affected by HIV. The doctors expected that the transplant could both cure his cancer and transfer the HIV-immunity to the London-based man.

Last year, the man’s doctor reported that there was no trace of HIV in his system for the last 18 months. However, they did not dare to announce that the man was cured because it was too early to jump to such a conclusion. However, when the man shows no sign of the disease for 30 months, they are confident with the treatment now.

A day before this historical announcement was made, the man revealed his identity to the public. His name is Adam Castillejo and he is 40 years old.

Castillejo is the second case of HIV who has been cured. Before this breakthrough, the disease can only be suppressed by medication and so far, scientists have not been able to find a universal cure for it. The first case is Timothy Ray Brown, who received the same transplant in 2007.

While curing the disease is a big news, there is a catch. Stem cell transplant is not the procedure for everyone but rather a last-resort treatment. To make HIV no longer a public health threat, scientists still need to work on a cure that work on a larger number of people.

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