HIV child's case gives hope to 37 million sufferers

Participants in the 9th IAS Conference on HIV Science in Paris, France. Photo / AP

By Helen Nianias

A South African child with HIV has surprised experts by showing no symptoms of the virus, having had just one year of treatment followed by eight and a half years with no drugs.

It has given hope to the 37 million people worldwide infected with the virus that causes Aids.

However, the 9-year-old's case is rare and does not suggest a simple path to a cure, experts say.

HIV patients typically have to keep taking antiretroviral (ART) drugs throughout their lives to stop the virus from developing into Aids. However, the child has no signs of the disease.

The child was part of a clinical trial in which researchers were investigating the effect of treating HIV-positive babies in the first few weeks of life, and then stopping and starting the ART medicines while checking whether their HIV was being controlled. The case was revealed at an Aids conference in Paris.

"It's a case that raises more questions than it necessarily answers," said Linda-Gail Bekker, president of the International Aids Society (IAS), which is holding the conference this week.

"It does raise the interesting notion that maybe treatment isn't for life," she said, adding that "it's clearly a rare phenomenon".

Researchers believe that intensive treatment soon after infection could enable long-term remission of the disease.

Treatment with ART started when the child was almost 9 weeks old but was interrupted at 40 weeks when the virus had been suppressed, and the child was monitored regularly for any signs of relapse.

The South African youngster, who contracted the virus from its mother, is the third to achieve a long remission using this approach.

Other similar cases include a Frenchwoman in her 20s who was born with HIV and has her infection under control despite taking no medicines since she was around 6 years old, and a Mississippi baby born with HIV in 2010 who suppressed her infection for 27 months after stopping treatment before it reappeared in her blood.

However, researchers believe the South African case is the first instance of sustained virological control from a randomised trial of ART interruption following early treatment of infants.