Cure for HIV Reported in Germany

Researchers say they have cured a man with HIV by giving him a new immune system.

Unfortunately the technique doctors used will likely not result in an effective treatment for the 33.4 million people currently living with HIV. Researchers in Germany completely wiped out the man’s immune system and gave him a stem cell transplant, allowing his body to create new blood cells that did not replicate the HIV virus. More than three years later the patient appears to be HIV-free. But the treatment can’t be widely replicated because in this instance the donor stem cells contained a rare HIV-resistant genetic mutation found in less than one per cent of the population. Moreover, stem cell transplants are potentially fatal and prohibitively expensive. Still, doctors say the treatment’s success confirms theories about how HIV works.