UNAIDS and UNICEF Welcome News of a Baby Born with HIV “Functionally Cured” through Treatment
NEW YORK (March 5, 2013) – The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and UNICEF welcome a new case study, which found that a baby treated with antiretroviral drugs in the first 30 hours of life and who continued on treatment for 18 months, appeared to be functionally cured.
The findings were presented today at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Atlanta, Georgia.
According to researchers, the mother who was living with HIV at the time of birth had not received antiretroviral medication or prenatal care. Researchers say that the child was born prematurely in July 2010 in the state of Mississippi. Due to the high risk of exposure to HIV, the researchers say the baby was started on a triple therapy regimen of antiretroviral drug 30 hours after birth and before proof of infection could be confirmed. The newborn’s HIV-positive status was subsequently confirmed through a highly sensitive polymerase chain reaction testing which was conducted on several occasions.
The case study stated that the baby was discharged from the hospital after one week and continued ARV treatment until 18 months of age, when for reasons that are unclear the treatment was discontinued. However, when the child was seen by medical professionals about a half a year later, blood samples revealed undetectable HIV levels and no HIV-specific antibodies.
If the findings are confirmed this would be the first well-documented case of an HIV-positive child who appears to have no detectable levels of the virus despite stopping HIV treatment.