Brazilian man cured of HIV with medication alone

The 34-year-old, who was diagnosed with HIV in 2012, is the first to maintain long-term HIV remission after being given a year-long course of intensive antiretroviral (ARV) drugs. The man received the treatment alongside four other patients but was the only one to have been “cured.”

The researchers, who unveiled their findings at this week’s virtual International Aids Society conference, warn that further analysis is needed.

The patient – only the third person ever to have been “cured of the disease.” He was put on standard ARV treatment two months after his diagnosis and then enrolled on a clinical trial where he received standard ARTs and the HIV antiretroviral drugs, Dolutegravir, maraviroc. He took nicotinamide, a form of vitamin B.

Nicotinamide fights part of the virus that infects cells and causes them to self-destruct and activate the immune system.

The patient received intensive therapy for a year and then was taken off treatment in March 2019. Since then, he has been tested every three weeks, and a year later, he still has no detectable viral load or any antibodies.

Professor Sharon Lewin, an HIV and infectious diseases expert at the University of Melbourne who was not involved in the research, said the fact that the patient has no antibodies was significant.

“When someone is infected with a virus, they make antibodies. And antibodies don’t budge, even when you’re on treatment, and there’s no detectable viral load. But this showed he had no antibodies which are supportive of him being cured,” she said.

However, she added that it was necessary to remember that this was just one patient, and the findings were being published as a case report rather than a full academic paper.

“It’s interesting, but it’s hard to know how significant it is when it’s just a single case. I’d also like to know what happened to the other patients,” she said.