DUARTE, KOMPAS.com – A man is believed to have recover from HIV after living with the virus since the 1980s, making it the fourth case in the world according to doctors.
He got bone marrow transplant to treat leukemia blood cancerfrom donors who are naturally resistant to the virus.
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This 66-year-old man, who does not wish to be named, has stopped drinking HIV medicine.
He said he was “very grateful” the virus was no longer found in his body.
The man is known as a “City of Hope” patient, after the hospital where he is being treated in Duarte, California.
Many friends died of HIV in the era before antiretroviral drugs could provide near-normal life expectancy.
“I never thought I would live”‘
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) damages the immune system. This virus can cause AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), which makes the body have to fight against HIV drugs.
In a statement, the man said: “When I was diagnosed with HIV in 1988, like so many others, I thought it was a death sentence.
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“I never thought I would live to see the day when I no longer have HIV,” he said BBC on Thursday (28/7/2022).
However, the therapy given to him was not specific for his HIV, but because he developed blood cancer leukemia at the age of 63.
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