A cure for HIV? More real than you might think

HIV has been the cause of death of millions for over 40 years. However, to date, five people have successfully recovered from the virus making many wonder if a cure is possible.

According to the United Nations, more 30 million people currently live with HIV. Meanwhile, 40 million have died since the disease was first detected in the early 1980s.

The scientific publication Nature Medicine, however, reveals that by February 2023 five people have successfully recovered from HIV.

Although these recoveries follow very specific circumstances, this opens the path to end HIV as a global pandemic once for all.

The key to the cure for HIV? Many believe it's in stem cell research.

Timothy Ray Brown, the first reported case to have been cured of HIV, got a graft transplant to deal with his leukemia in 2007. He almost died when his body rejected the transplant but not only he survived, the virus disappeared from his body.

Pictured: Timothy Ray Brown in 2012.

Brown's case seemed a one-in-a-kind case. However, in 2016 an HIV-positive man in London who received a bone marrow transplant also dealt with his body rejecting the graft.

Adam Castillejo, also known as the London Patient managed to survive and HIV-free after losing 70 pounds and suffering multiple infections.

A New York woman became the third HIV patient to recover from HIV, also after receiving a bone marrow transplant.

This specific case is seen as a watershed moment when it comes to HIV treatment. The patient, unlike the two previous cases, presented no side effects and was discharged after only 17 days.

According to The New York Times, she also received blood stem cells from a first-degree relative, which served as a “bridge” to the donated cord blood, making the process less dangerous.

Scientists are still unclear why cord blood managed to successfully fight HIV on those occasions. Bone marrow transplants are an arduous process, and it will take many studies for a long time until we manage to know more.

HIV research continues, but in the meantime, we'll have to do with prevention and current medication to slow down the spread of HIV and the development of AIDS.

The unique characteristics of the human immunodeficiency virus make developing a vaccine very difficult. However, several projects are on their way.

The HIV vaccine that Moderna is testing is somewhat similar to the Covid-19 vaccine in that both are based on mRNA vaccines, a new type of inoculation technique that is quickly becoming a game-changer in the medical field.

Instead of introducing a weakened or inactive form of the virus into our bodies, the mRNA vaccine “teaches” how to produce antibodies to fight off the virus.

If the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything, it is that despite vocal minorities such as the anti-vax movement, medical advancements have made the world a much better place.

The most common hypothesis about HIV is that it jumped from chimpanzees to humans somewhere around the 1920s. However, it was in the 1980s when AIDS developed, and it became a global pandemic.

Millions have died from the disease, including famous people like actor Rock Hudson, musician Freddy Mercury, singer Klaus Nomi, filmmaker Derek Jarman, and artist Keith Haring.

Pictured: A recreation of a Keith Haring mural in New York City.

Forty years ago, an AIDS diagnosis was tantamount to a death sentence. Today, modern treatments allow those infected to live a pretty normal life. Though in many developing countries, it still carries a heavy toll.

However, cases such as the patient treated with umbilical cord blood are an important reminder that, sooner or later, science could find a definite cure to diseases such as HIV.