
Why Has Science Only Cured One Person of HIV? - elektor
https://gizmodo.com/why-has-science-only-cured-one-person-of-hiv-1821628386
======
Diggity
The Berlin Patient was an extremely unique case.

1) The patient had leukemia and HIV

2) The bone marrow donor had the extremely rare delta 32 mutation (which
provides resistance to HIV)

Bone marrow donors are in high demand. The delta 32 mutation is extremely
rare.

Assuming there were not limitations on delta 32 bone marrow donors, it is not
ethically sound to intentionally induce leukemia and/or perform transplants
when there are already tested treatment methods (Antiretroviral
drugs/tenofovir) that make HIV a manageable disease.

~~~
autokad
you dont need to induce leukemia right? leukemia was the reason why the person
needed a bone marrow transplant, but as far as I know it doesnt help in
'curing' HIV.

~~~
spoondan
I believe the point was that HIV alone does not motivate a bone marrow
transplant. There are people with more urgent need for transplants and not
enough donations to serve that need.

It goes without saying that it's unethical to motivate a bone marrow
transplant for a person with HIV by giving them leukemia. I assume then that
it was said either as a joke or just for the sake of completeness.

~~~
Diggity
Yes precisely

------
dogma1138
Because curing or at least chronically managing AIDS is more important
especially considering how hard it is to scale stem cell therapy.

------
Strudelnoggin
Wrong, there are two people who have been cured of HIV. This Berlin patient
and Magic Johnson.

Edit - Apparently some people on this site have a very poor sense of humor and
apparently take themselves very seriously, as indicated by the down-votes.

~~~
ams6110
Is Magic officially considered "cured"? Is he off meds? Or is he still being
treated and has undetectable viral load?

~~~
ghostbrainalpha
That comment was just an attempt at humor.

Magic Johnson is not cured. He still takes medication and has an undetectable
viral load.

[http://www.thebody.com/content/76192/magic-johnson-wants-
you...](http://www.thebody.com/content/76192/magic-johnson-wants-you-to-know-
he-isnt-cured-of-h.html)

~~~
Strudelnoggin
I thought it was funny

