HIV virus copies reemerge in ‘cured’ US girl

A four-year-old American girl, born with HIV and thought to have been cured with aggressive treatment, has had copies of the virus reemerging in her blood.

The girl’s mother had the virus while pregnant with her and did not medicate during the pregnancy to avoid her receiving the virus.

Found to be bearing the virus only during labor, the girl was placed under powerful treatment to preempt the prospect of infection.

The girl was treated until she was 18 months old, when doctors lost contact with her. Ten months later when she returned, they could find no sign of infection even though the mom had stopped giving her AIDS medicines.

The virus did not reappear until last week. Doctors said she is now back on treatment and is responding well.

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infection Diseases, said, “Certainly, this is a disappointing turn of events for this young child, the medical staff involved in the child’s care and the HIV/AIDS research community.”

However, Deborah Persaud, one of the two pediatric HIV experts involved in the ongoing analysis of the case, said, “The fact that this child was able to remain off anti-retroviral treatment for two years and maintain quiescent virus for that length of time is unprecedented.”

“Typically, when treatment is stopped, HIV levels rebound within weeks, not years.”