In the USA, the fourth patient in the world was cured of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). He is a 66-year-old man who fell ill in 1988.
The BBCwrites about it.
At the age of 63, he was given another diagnosis — leukemia. Doctors decided he needed a bone marrow transplant to replace the cancerous blood cells. Coincidentally, the donor was resistant to HIV. Subsequently, the patient stopped taking antiretroviral therapy.
The man, who does not want to be named, has become known as a patient at City of Hope, the name of the hospital in Duarte, California, where he was being treated.
"When I was diagnosed with HIV in 1988, like many others, I thought it was a death sentence. "I never thought I would live to see the day when I no longer have HIV," said the recovered man.
After the bone marrow transplant, doctors carefully monitored the "City of Hope" patient — the level of HIV in his body is now impossible to determine. He has been in remission for over 17 months.
- The first patient to overcome cancer and HIV with a bone marrow transplant was Timothy Ray Brown. However, after 12 years, he had a recurrence of oncology, which caused him to die in September 2020. Another patient who recovered from HIV infection was the Englishman, Adam Castillejo. Currently, no signs of the virus are detected in his blood.
- A patient from the USA with leukemia became the first woman and the third person in history to be cured of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
- The "City of Hope" patient is both the oldest patient who was cured and the one who lived with HIV the longest.