**Breakthrough: Doctors May Have Cured a Baby of HIV for the First Time in History**
In a groundbreaking development, doctors might have cured a baby of HIV for the first time in history. This news comes from a report released yesterday by John Hopkins University, which details how a 2-year-old child in Mississippi was successfully cured of HIV that the baby had contracted at birth.
### The Case Overview
The child's mother did not receive any medical care during her pregnancy and was unaware that she had HIV. As a result, she did not receive the medications typically provided to expectant mothers to reduce the risk of transmitting HIV to their babies. Due to the lack of time to implement standard precautions, the delivery team immediately transferred the baby to the University of Mississippi Medical Center for further evaluation.
Normally, infants at such a young age are only given preventative medications to manage symptoms. However, because the baby was at an unusually high risk of contracting HIV, doctors decided to take an unprecedented step. They placed the child on three aggressive anti-retroviral drugs just 30 hours after birth. This approach is not typically done and marks a significant deviation from standard medical practices.
### The Outcome
After 29 days on this intensive treatment regimen, tests revealed no detectable signs of the virus. The baby remained on the medications, but the mother began missing appointments when the child was 18 months old. Eventually, at 23 months, doctors were able to test the baby again. To their astonishment, there was no uptick in the virus— the child still tested negative for HIV.
This achievement is described as a "functional cure" for the child. However, there are some important caveats. First, it's worth noting that many children born to HIV-positive mothers test positive for HIV due to antibodies transferred from the mother, which does not necessarily mean they are infected with the virus itself. In this case, doctors are confident that the baby was actually infected, but this distinction is crucial.
Secondly, while this breakthrough represents a significant step forward in medical science, it may not be considered a "cure" in the strictest sense. By placing the baby on such intense medications so early in life, some experts suggest that the virus never had the opportunity to establish a reservoir— a term used to describe how HIV藏身于人体细胞中，长期潜伏。This explains why this development is not immediately applicable to adults with HIV but highlights the potential benefits of early, aggressive treatment in infants.
### Implications for Future Research
This case has generated a hypothesis that could lead to new approaches in treating HIV-positive newborns. Typically, babies are not placed on retroviral therapy for six weeks after birth, as doctors want to confirm whether they are truly infected and not just testing positive due to maternal antibodies. This scenario suggests that there may be merit in starting aggressive treatment earlier, regardless of the circumstances.
### Public Health Impact
In 2011 alone, approximately 330,000 babies were born with HIV or acquired the virus during breastfeeding. Any intervention that can reliably and safely reduce this number represents a major victory in the fight against HIV/AIDS. While more details about this case will be released later this week, it already offers hope for future research and treatment strategies.
### Conclusion
While this achievement is not a universal cure for HIV, it marks an important milestone in medical history. By acting swiftly and decisively, doctors were able to potentially eliminate the virus in an infant, demonstrating the power of early intervention. As more information becomes available, this case will undoubtedly spark further research and discussions about how best to treat and prevent HIV in newborns.
For those interested in learning more about this groundbreaking development, additional details can be found in the links provided below. Be sure to subscribe for more updates from D News as we continue to cover this story and others like it.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: ena new report says doctors might have cured a baby of HIV for the first time in history Anthony here for D news and this is potentially a huge achievement in medical science a report released Yesterday by John Hopkins University details how a 2-year-old child in Mississippi was cured of HIV that it had at Birth so the deal is this the child's mother had not received any medical care while she was pregnant she also didn't know that she had HIV so that means she didn't receive the drugs that a mother's normally given during pregnancy to reduce the risk of transferring HIV to her baby and since the delivery team didn't have any time to take the usual precautions in this case they immediately transferred the baby to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in case the virus had transferred now normally an infant that young is only given preventative medications to keep symptoms in check but because the baby was at an unusually high risk the doctor at the center decided to take an unusual course of action and they put the baby on three aggressive anti-retroviral drugs only 30 hours after its birth now that isn't ever done and that's an important thing to remember here they kept the baby on the drugs and kept testing for HIV and after 29 days there were no detectable signs of the virus gone they kept the baby on treatments but the mother began missing appointments when it was 18 months old and they finally got to test the baby again at 23 months and they expected to see an uptick in the virus but there wasn't one the child still tested negative so this is awesome right the virus was functionally cured in this kid but there are still some variables here first off a lot of children with HIV positive parents also test positive for HIV and it's usually just because of antibodies transferred over from the mother doesn't always mean the baby actually has the virus doctors are pretty sure that this child was actually infected but that's just something worth noting the second thing to know is that this might not be a cure in the strictest sense okay by putting the baby on such intense medication so early some doctors are saying the baby wasn't infected in the truest sense of the word the virus didn't get a chance to hold and build up what's called a reservoir and that's why experts say that this breakthrough isn't relevant to adults with HIV but that still means that getting aggressive early on can stop the virus from taking hold in a baby continued testing of the child is going to be required to just to make sure that this is really gone for good so it's not a general cure one doctor called it a hypothesis generating case usually babies aren't put on retrovirals for 6 weeks after they're born because doctors want to know that they're really infected and it's not just those antibodies this shows that there might be a reason to start them on aggressive medication immediately no matter what all in all 330,000 babies were born with HIV or acquired it during breastfeeding in 2011 so anything that can reliably and safely cut down on that number is a huge win more more details about the case are going to be released this week so check out the links below if you want to keep up with the story and subscribe for more D newsa new report says doctors might have cured a baby of HIV for the first time in history Anthony here for D news and this is potentially a huge achievement in medical science a report released Yesterday by John Hopkins University details how a 2-year-old child in Mississippi was cured of HIV that it had at Birth so the deal is this the child's mother had not received any medical care while she was pregnant she also didn't know that she had HIV so that means she didn't receive the drugs that a mother's normally given during pregnancy to reduce the risk of transferring HIV to her baby and since the delivery team didn't have any time to take the usual precautions in this case they immediately transferred the baby to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in case the virus had transferred now normally an infant that young is only given preventative medications to keep symptoms in check but because the baby was at an unusually high risk the doctor at the center decided to take an unusual course of action and they put the baby on three aggressive anti-retroviral drugs only 30 hours after its birth now that isn't ever done and that's an important thing to remember here they kept the baby on the drugs and kept testing for HIV and after 29 days there were no detectable signs of the virus gone they kept the baby on treatments but the mother began missing appointments when it was 18 months old and they finally got to test the baby again at 23 months and they expected to see an uptick in the virus but there wasn't one the child still tested negative so this is awesome right the virus was functionally cured in this kid but there are still some variables here first off a lot of children with HIV positive parents also test positive for HIV and it's usually just because of antibodies transferred over from the mother doesn't always mean the baby actually has the virus doctors are pretty sure that this child was actually infected but that's just something worth noting the second thing to know is that this might not be a cure in the strictest sense okay by putting the baby on such intense medication so early some doctors are saying the baby wasn't infected in the truest sense of the word the virus didn't get a chance to hold and build up what's called a reservoir and that's why experts say that this breakthrough isn't relevant to adults with HIV but that still means that getting aggressive early on can stop the virus from taking hold in a baby continued testing of the child is going to be required to just to make sure that this is really gone for good so it's not a general cure one doctor called it a hypothesis generating case usually babies aren't put on retrovirals for 6 weeks after they're born because doctors want to know that they're really infected and it's not just those antibodies this shows that there might be a reason to start them on aggressive medication immediately no matter what all in all 330,000 babies were born with HIV or acquired it during breastfeeding in 2011 so anything that can reliably and safely cut down on that number is a huge win more more details about the case are going to be released this week so check out the links below if you want to keep up with the story and subscribe for more D news\n"
