Man Becomes 3rd Patient To Be Cured Of HIV After Stem Cell Transplant

A man in Germany has been cured of HIV after undergoing a stem cell transplant aimed at curing his leukemia, according to a study published in scientific journal Nature. The 53-year-old unnamed man is known as the Dusseldorf Patient. He is just the third person in the world to be cured of the condition using the treatment, the study further said. Independent said the man has been off anti-retroviral medication, used to suppress the virus, for four years without the relapse.

The study said that the man was carefully monitored for more than 9 years.

It added that like the “London” and “Berlin” patients, the donor had a rare mutation that confers resistance to certain strains of HIV, like HIV-1.

“This underlines that these approaches are promising and also reproducible, since it does not remain an isolated case,” said Jurgen Rockstroh, a professor and head of infectiology at Germany’s University Hospital Bonn, told German outlet DW.

However, some researchers pointed out that the treatment has not been successful for other patients who received it, the outlet further reported.

The Dusseldorf Patient was diagnosed with HIV in 2008. “I still remember very well the sentence of my family doctor: ‘Don’t take it so hard. We will experience together that HIV can be cured’,” he was quoted as saying by Independent.

“Today, I am all the more proud of my worldwide team of doctors who succeeded in curing me of HIV – and at the same time, of course, of leukaemia,” he further said.

The man now plans to support fundraising and fight the stigmatisation of HIV with his success story.