The findings will be discussed at an international conference in Melbourne next month. Source: Supplied
FOUR babies born with HIV were apparently cleared of the infection in a major breakthrough fuelling hopes of a cure for AIDS.
Details of the Canadian cases will be discussed at an AIDS conference in Melbourne this month.
Breakthroughs in the quest for an AIDS vaccine, the fight to cure people living with HIV of co-infections such as hepatitis C and tuberculosis, and the impact of discriminatory policies in other nations are also expected to announced.
AIDS 2014 co-chairman Professor Sharon Lewin said the significance of the findings would focus international attention on the July 20-25 gathering.
“It will be exciting for Melbourne and for the world to have this great meeting of minds to discuss the latest breakthroughs in science, politics and community action in all aspects of the global response to HIV,” Prof Lewin said.
The Canadian infants, born to HIV-positive mothers, were all given high doses of three antiretroviral drugs in the first few hours after birth.
The virus, which had been present in their systems at birth, could not be found later.
Babies were given antiretroviral drugs in the few hours after birth to fight the HIV virus. Source: News Limited
The cases follow the success of the so-called “Mississippi Baby”, who was last year revealed as the first confirmed case of a baby being cured of HIV.
The US baby’s mother was only discovered to be HIV positive during labour and missed out on the normal treatment to prevent her passing the virus on to her child.
When tests revealed the infant had contracted HIV the baby was given an aggressive three-drug treatment from 31 hours after birth.
University of Mississippi Medical Centre doctors were stunned when the virus could not be found 29 days later.
Traditionally, the antiretroviral treatment is only able to suppress HIV and make it dormant; however, the infant was later able to stop medication completely without the virus remerging, raising hope that treatment immediately after birth or infection may be a cure.
Revealing the latest cases, Dr Ari Bitnun of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto warned it was too early to know if his team’s patients could be considered as cured.
Ethical considerations for the children’s wellbeing mean that unlike the Mississippi Baby the four Canadian children have not been taken off their medication, and it is not known if the virus would remerge if their treatment is stopped.
Adding to concerns, a fifth HIV-infected Canadian child whose virus also became undetectable had to be taken off the treatment at age three, due to complications, and the virus quickly returned.
The increasing but isolated cases of apparent cures began with the “Berlin patient” who overcame HIV following a bone-marrow transplant to treat cancer.
grant.mcarthur@news.com.au
Originally published as Four babies ‘cured’ of HIV in breakthrough