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American Brown was diagnosed with HIV, a virus that weakens the immune system and leads to AIDS, in 1995 when he was living in Berlin. He is considered the first person to get rid of the previously deadly virus.
In 2007, he was diagnosed with acute leukemia, a cancer of the bone marrow. Cancer treatment often involves destroying the patient’s bone marrow, where cancer cells are produced, and then transplanting the bone marrow from a donor, writes the BBC.
The person from whom Brown received a bone marrow transplant had a rare DNA mutation, called CCR5.
The world’s first cured HIV patient is dying of cancer
It was “cured”
Simply explained, CCR5 is part of the immune system. The mutation in the donor made it possible for the immune system, which cannot normally resist the HIV virus, to block it, writes the BBC.
After the transplant, Brown’s values for the HIV virus fell to such a low level that he no longer needed to take medication and was theoretically “cured” of the disease.
Brown is the first person known to have been rid of the disease, and in the world he is known as the “Berlin patient.”
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Died of cancer
Earlier this year, however, the cancer returned and this time it had spread to both the spinal cord and the brain. On Tuesday, she fell asleep at her home in Palm Springs, California, according to The Guardian.
– It is with great sadness that I have to announce that Timothy has passed away, surrounded by me and his friends, after a five-month battle with leukemia, writes his partner Tim Hoeffgen on Facebook.
– Tim dedicated his life to telling his story about HIV and became an ambassador of hope, he adds.
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The doctor who led Brown’s landmark treatment in 2007, Gero Huetter, tells The Guardian that Brown was living proof that HIV is possible to be cured and therefore demonstrated something that many thought was impossible.
– It is a very tragic situation that the cancer came back and took his life, because he seemed to be still free of the HIV virus, says Huetter.
The International AIDS Association also believes that Brown was living proof that there is hope for a cure.
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Very deadly
If a person with HIV infection does not receive treatment, the disease can eventually lead to an immune system so weakened that patients get serious illnesses. When the disease reaches this stage, it is called AIDS.
Without treatment, fully developed AIDS has a very high mortality rate, but with current treatment, AIDS patients will be able to remain virtually asymptomatic, as long as treatment does not start too late.
This is how viruses have formed us
Although Brown’s bone marrow transplant was successful in curing the HIV virus, this is not a treatment used as a disease today. Transplantation is very extensive and carries great risk for the patient. The treatment method will also be too expensive to be able to treat the 38 million people believed to be infected with HIV, writes the BBC.
HIV AIDS
- The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a virus that attacks the body’s immune system and causes the life-threatening disease AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome).
- AIDS destroys the immune system, so any infection can be life-threatening.
- Antiretroviral drugs can keep the virus under control so that the infected person does not develop AIDS.
- The UN organization UNAIDS estimates that around 37 million people are living with HIV today worldwide, of which around 21 million receive medical treatment.
- So far, neither a cure for HIV infection nor a vaccine against the virus has been found, but researchers now claim to have cured an HIV-positive man by transplanting bone marrow from a donor who is resistant to the HIV virus.
(NTB)
“London patients”
However, her story inspired the research community to keep working to find a possible cure.
– I’m still glad I had it, Brown said of the transplant during an interview with the AP news agency earlier this year, after the cancer had returned.
– More celebrities with HIV should stand out
– He opened doors that were not there before, he added.
Researchers in the field, among other things, have tried to achieve similar results with the help of gene therapy.
Adam Castillejo, who goes by the name “London patient,” is also said to have been cured of HIV by a transplant similar to the one Brown underwent, writes The Guardian.
