Second patient to be naturally cured of HIV brings hope to millions

BUENOS AIRES: An Argentinean woman who had been diagnosed with HIV became the world’s second person to be naturally cured of the deadly disease in Argentina.

According to the researchers, the second-known person to naturally cure their HIV infection has been discovered in Argentina.

The discovery brings the possibility of a cure closer for the 38 million people living with HIV globally, said the researchers.

“Known only as the ‘Esperanza patient’, she is the second person to be found to have no intact virus,” a group of Harvard-based scientists announced the discovery at a major international meeting of HIV experts, Mail Online reported.

Loreen Willenberg was part of a group of elite controllers whose HIV appears to be locked away where it can’t produce a new virus.

“Finding one patient with this natural ability for functional cure [no virus that can reproduce] is good, but finding two means so much more,” said Dr Natalia Laufer, the patient’s doctor and an HIV researcher in Buenos Aires, according to The Times.

‘It means there must be more people like this out there,’ she said. ‘This is a significant leap forward in the world of HIV cure research. Upon diagnosis, her tests surprised us all.’

Reports state that — the Esperanza Patient and Willenberg — are extreme examples of a rare group of people known as elite controllers, who have never taken antiretroviral therapy to fight the virus, and who show no signs of the virus in their blood.

The finding of the Argentinian woman, Professor Yu said, and the understanding of how the bodies of elite patients deal with the virus ‘opens a door to a potential cure’, she said.