The HIV epidemic has caused some doctors to become more creative in their approaches to combating the disease. Along with the usual approach to prevention and treatment, something new has emerged as a strategy for finding a cure for HIV, and it’s because of the Berlin Patient. The story of the Berlin Patient is quite remarkable. An HIV-positive American living in Germany receives a bone marrow transplant to treat his leukemia, which treats not only leukemia, but also HIV. In fact, after two successful transplants, HIV was completely eradicated from his system. To this day, the Berlin Patient is believed to be the only person to have been cured of HIV infection.
While something as complex and risky as a bone marrow transplant is impractical for the tens of millions of people worldwide who have HIV, the interest it generated has the HIV research community working feverishly to find a cure.
At this point, a functional cure is a more realistic goal. A functional cure is obtained when the viral load is reduced to a point where the immune system can easily handle it and keep it suppressed. Finding a working cure will reduce reliance on antiretroviral therapy (ART) drugs or eliminate the need for them altogether. Various other kinds of “cures” have been tried over the years, but none of them have come close to doing much to eradicate HIV. The “Berlin Patient” bone marrow transplant worked because the bone marrow came from a donor who was genetically resistant to HIV, a very rare genetic mutation.
The HAART approach used highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) to reduce the HIV virus to undetectable levels in the bloodstream, and was thought to be the first step on the road to a cure, but a major flaw found this to be wrong. . Although HAART effectively combated the active virus, it did not kill the latent virus that resides in cells. This is where the “shock and awe” approach comes into play. Anti-latency drugs are put into the system to force the HIV virus to activate and try to replicate. Once the virus is out in the open, infected cells are killed while HAART protects cells that are not yet infected.
More work needs to be done on the ‘shock and awe’ approach to see if it can be effective against HIV in the long term; Until then, the Berlin Patient is not satisfied with being the only person cured of HIV. Even he wants more money spent on research for a cure for HIV. With the progress that is taking place in treatments and therapies for HIV positive patients, the scientific community believes that it is only a matter of time.