The so-called"London Patient", a cancer sufferer originally from Venezuela, made headlines last year when researchers at the University of Cambridge reported they had found no trace of the AIDS-causing virus in his blood for 18 months.A second patient has been cured of HIV after undergoing stem cell transplant treatment, doctors said on Tuesday, after finding no trace of infection 30 months after he stopped traditional treatment.
"We've tested a sizeable set of sites that HIV likes to hide in and they are all pretty much negative for an active virus," said Gupta. Viral tests of Castillejo's cerebral fluid, intestinal tissue and lymphoid tissue more than two years after stopping antiretroviral treatment showed no active infection.
The Cambridge doctor said that there were "several other" patients who had undergone similar treatment but who were less far along in their remission.Researchers are currently weighing up whether or not patients suffering from drug-resistant forms of HIV might be eligible for stem cell transplants in future, something Gupta said would require careful ethical consideration.
This is a unique position to be in, a unique and very humbling position," he told The New York Times.