Living proof that HIV can be cured
1 October 2017
Timothy Ray Brown, better known as the ‘’Berlin patient’’ was a speaker at the recent South African Immunology Society (SAIS) meeting held in Gordon’s Bay. He gave a fascinating talk about his life-changing decision to undergo a bone-marrow transplant to treat his leukemia using stem cells that lacked the CCR5 receptor. Since these cells do not support HIV replication, this was an experimental attempt to simultaneously treat his HIV infection. After the transplant he decided to stop taking antiretroviral therapy and remarkably HIV could no longer be detected. Timothy has been HIV-free for over 10 years and is living proof that HIV is curable.