Doctors believe that they have made a breakthrough discovery in finding a cure for HIV/ AIDS with a Berlin patient. Timothy Ray Brown received a blood stem transplant to cure his leukemia in 2007. Three years later, his doctors say that he is cured of both leukemia and HIV. Apparently, Brown’s donor had a gene mutation that gave him natural resistance to HIV. While his doctors consider this a great discovery, it is unlikely that this treatment can be adapted for widespread use. Blood stem cell transplants are used to treat cancer and their risks to healthy people are unknown. "We can't really apply this particular approach to healthy individuals because the risk is just too high," said Dr. Michael Sagg of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is the former chairman of the HIV Medicine Association, an organization of doctors that specializes in treating AIDS.
Although Brown’s case does not provide an absolute cure for people living with HIV, it can lead researchers to find a permanent cure using gene therapy or other methods.
Source: Associated Press
Huffington Post.
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