PARIS (TIP): A man dubbed the “Geneva patient” is the latest person with HIV to be declared in long-term remission — however he did not receive a transplant with a virus-blocking gene mutation like previous cases, researchers said on July 20. But they stopped short of saying the man was “cured” of HIV, warning there was still a chance the virus could still return.
All had bone marrow transplants to treat serious cases of cancer, receiving stem cells from a donor with a mutation of the CCR5 gene. This mutation is known to block HIV from entering the body’s cells. In 2018, the Geneva patient similarly received a stem cell transplant to treat a particularly aggressive form of leukaemia. But this time the transplant came from a donor who did not carry the CCR5 mutation, French and Swiss researchers told a press conference in the Australian city of Brisbane as part of an AIDS conference that begins at the weekend. (AFP)