Blog #6: Scientists Report First Cure Of HIV In A Child, Say It’s A Game-Changer

Scientists believe a little girl that was born, with HIV, in Mississippi  has been cured.  She is the first child and only the second person around the world that has been cured since the virus became a pandemic nearly 32 years ago.  An estimated 330,000 cases of children around the world get infected with HIV at or around birth every year.  Even though many countries strive to prevent mother-to-child infections, several thousands of children are affected by the virus.  Specialists thought antiviral drugs would need to be administered throughout the child’s life to prevent HIV from destroying their immune system or worse turning into AIDS.  Hannah Gay, University of Mississippi pediatric infectious disease specialist says, “the child came to our attention as a high-risk exposure to maternal HIV.”  The child was tested positive for HIV within 30 hours of birth.  Gay decided to start treating the child immediately.  She gave higher-than-usual, “therapeutic” doses of 3 powerful HIV drugs rather than the “prophylactic” doses.  But the mother decided to stop bringing the child in for checkups and quit giving the antiviral drugs.  Hannah Gay had authorities to track down the child and did a checkup and a couple of tests have intermittently found pieces of HIV DNA and RNA, but no evidence that the virus is actively replicating in the child’s cells.  Dr. Katherine Luzuriaga at the University of Massachusetts says, this amounts to what’s called a “functional cure.”

HIV and AIDS is a disease that is affecting very society and nation.  Thousands are contracting the virus and sadly so are children that are born from mothers that are infected as well.  Scientists are in a race to finding a cure and this gives great hope that maybe, one day, this may become reality.  If HIV and AIDS was cured, it would grant thousands of people with a better healthier life.  

Jacqueline Wooten
SOC 202-01 3/8/2013  3:54 PM

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/03/04/173258954/scientists-report-first-cure-of-hiv-in-a-child-say-its-a-game-changer