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 That child is the second case, following an earlier
instance in Mississippi, in which doctors may have brought HIV in a
newborn into remission by administering antiretroviral drugs in the
first hours of life, said Dr. Deborah Persaud, a pediatrics
specialist with the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, at a medical
conference in Boston.
"The child ... has become HIV-negative," Persaud said, referring to
the 9-month-old baby born outside Los Angeles, who is being treated
at Miller Children's Hospital. The child's identify was not
disclosed.
That child is still receiving a three-drug cocktail of anti-AIDS
treatments, while the child born in Mississippi, now 3-1/2 years
old, ceased receiving antiretroviral treatments two years ago.
Both children were born of mothers infected with HIV, which wipes
out the body's immune system and causes AIDS.
Speaking at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic
Infections, Persaud credited the early use of antiretroviral
therapies with improving the children's health but warned that more
research must be done.
"Really the only way we can prove that we have accomplished
remission in these kids is by taking them off treatment and that's
not without risk," Persaud said. "This is a call to action for us to
mobilize and be able to learn from these cases."
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The human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, surfaced more than 30
years ago and now infects more than 34 million people worldwide.
Prevention measures, including condoms, have helped check its spread
and antiretroviral drugs can now control the disease for decades,
meaning it is no longer a death sentence.
(Reporting by Scott Malone; editing by
Lisa Shumaker)
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