Kaya News Reporter
Scientists have reportedly cured the first woman from HIV after the leukemia patient received a life-saving stem-cell transplant.
If the research is accurate, the woman will be the third person cured from the virus that causes AIDS.
Two men who also underwent the procedure previously were the first and second people to be cured from the virus.
The middle-aged, mixed-race woman underwent the procedure which involved umbilical cord blood, 14-months ago.
Not only is she in remission from her acute myeloid leukemia – a cancer that starts in blood-forming cells in the bone marrow – but she also doesn’t require ARV treatment.
Her case forms part of a larger US study led by DR Yvonne Bryson of the University of California Los Angeles and Dr Deborah Persaud of John Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Following 25 people who are HIV positive who receive a stem-cell transplant which is generally used to treat cancer.
After first receiving chemotherapy to kill off cancerous immune cells, the stem cells with a specific genetic mutation is transplanted to patients.
Over time patients develop an immunity to HIV.
While the procedure is not viable to cure HIV on a large scale, the research shows that a cure for HIV is possible after all.
Stem-cell transplants can be a toxic and fatal procedure is a person does not have a fatal condition like cancer.
In other news: Gautrain Hatfield without water and electricity after City of Tshwane cuts services



