An 18-year-old French woman infected with HIV in her early childhood has shown no signs of infection for 12 years, although she has not taken antiretroviral drugs at that time, writes BBC News in a report on the meeting of the International AIDS Association (IAS) in Vancouver.
This is the first such documented case of a child living with HIV in the world.
The French woman was born in 1996 and was infected with the virus by her mother, who was its carrier. This could happen both during labor and shortly after birth. When she was three months old, doctors gave her an antiretroviral treatment consisting of four drugs.
The girl was treated for 5 years, then her parents stopped giving her medicines for unknown reasons. When she was examined a year later, the doctors did not find that she had HIV in her body. It was then decided to respect the parents’ decision and only the girl’s condition was monitored.
Nothing has changed in the health of the young French woman. In the latest research conducted 12 years after stopping medication, when she turned 18, there are still no signs of infection. The HIV virus may still be hiding in her, but it is present in such small amounts that it cannot be detected in the blood by available methods.
Prof. Sharon Lewin from Melbourne University (Australia) says that the case of the French woman confirms, first of all, that it is worthwhile to apply antiretroviral treatment as early as possible. However, he warns that it cannot be cured, because the virus may start multiplying again.
Dr. Asier Saez-Cirion of the Pasteur Institute in Paris emphasizes that this kind of long-term remission of infection after drug discontinuation is possible in adults and children. However, longer observations are needed. More than two years ago in the US, it seemed that infection-free is the so-called Mississippi baby, who was also discontinued from medication. However, after 27 months, HIV infection flared up again.
The Pasteur Institute monitors 14 HIV-infected adults who have not taken any antiretroviral drugs for an average of 10 years. One of them has been showing no symptoms of recurrence for over 13 years.
We know that remissions of HIV infection are possible, but this happens very rarely, emphasizes Dr. Saez-Cirion.