Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

First man ‘functionally cured’ of HIV
Yahoo! News ^ | Liz Goodwin

Posted on 06/05/2011 10:00:37 AM PDT by Morpheus2009

Since the HIV virus was discovered 30 years ago this week, 30 million people have died from the disease, and it continues to spread at the rate of 7,000 people per day globally, the UN says.

There's not much good news when it comes to this devastating disease. But that is perhaps why the story of the man scientists call the "Berlin patient" is so remarkable and has generated so much excitement among the HIV advocacy community.

Timothy Ray Brown suffered from both leukemia and HIV when he received a bone marrow stem cell transplant in Berlin, Germany in 2007. The transplant came from a man who was immune to HIV, which scientists say about 1 percent of Caucasians are. (According to San Francisco's CBS affiliate, the trait may be passed down from ancestors who became immune to the plague centuries ago.)

What happened next has stunned the dozens of scientists who are closely monitoring Brown: His HIV went away.

"He has no replicating virus and he isn't taking any medication. And he will now probably never have any problems with HIV," his doctor Gero Huetter told Reuters. Brown now lives in the Bay Area, and suffers from some mild neurological difficulties after the operation. "It makes me very happy," he says of the incredible cure.

The development of anti-retroviral drugs in the 1990s was the first sign of hope in the epidemic, transforming the disease from a sudden killer to a more manageable illness that could be lived with for decades. But still, the miraculous cocktail of drugs is expensive, costing $13 billion a year in developing countries alone, according to Reuters. That figure is expected to triple in 20 years--raising the worry that more sick people will not be able to afford treatment.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aids; aidscure; cure; disease; health; medicine; stemcells
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-54 next last
Sounds like there might again be a step to curing HIV/AIDS, but then again, we may still have some seriously long waits to see widespread curing.
1 posted on 06/05/2011 10:00:40 AM PDT by Morpheus2009
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Morpheus2009

What does “functionally cured” mean?

He still looks sickly.


2 posted on 06/05/2011 10:03:42 AM PDT by bgill (Kenyan Parliament - how could a man born in Kenya who is not even a native American become the POTUS)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Morpheus2009

“HIV advocacy”?

I am happy that science is making advances, but “HIV advocacy?” They make it sound like a badge of honor.


3 posted on 06/05/2011 10:04:23 AM PDT by mylife (OPINIONS ~ $ 1.00 HALFBAKED ~ 50c)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bgill
What does “functionally cured” mean?

It means you start mumbling random R.E.M. lyrics in your sleep. Bleh.


4 posted on 06/05/2011 10:06:07 AM PDT by library user (Just because you're homeless doesn't mean you're lazy.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Morpheus2009

Who is going to pay for this? AIDS is not exactly a rich man’s disease.


5 posted on 06/05/2011 10:06:37 AM PDT by bornred
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mylife

The gay dream: You can still be gay and promiscuous as hell and not die of AIDS.

Not that other gross things won’t kill you, but not AIDS.


6 posted on 06/05/2011 10:07:02 AM PDT by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Morpheus2009

Now we just have to take 1% of the people on the planet and steal their bone marrow!


7 posted on 06/05/2011 10:07:04 AM PDT by Erik Latranyi (Too many conservatives urge retreat when the war of politics doesn't go their way.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Morpheus2009

AIDS “research” has already topped $50 billion and no cure. While out of political correctness, siphoning off money for research for incurable diseases such as cancer.

And WTF is “functionally cured”?? Is this another MSM liberal description such as “unexpectedly”?


8 posted on 06/05/2011 10:09:37 AM PDT by max americana (.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Secret Agent Man

read the comments. Our society is sick.


9 posted on 06/05/2011 10:10:21 AM PDT by mylife (OPINIONS ~ $ 1.00 HALFBAKED ~ 50c)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Morpheus2009

Now we just have to take 1% of the people on the planet and steal their bone marrow!


10 posted on 06/05/2011 10:11:04 AM PDT by Erik Latranyi (Too many conservatives urge retreat when the war of politics doesn't go their way.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Morpheus2009

Now we just have to take 1% of the people on the planet and steal their bone marrow!


11 posted on 06/05/2011 10:11:08 AM PDT by Erik Latranyi (Too many conservatives urge retreat when the war of politics doesn't go their way.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Morpheus2009

Junk Science+Political Correctness+Billion$$$$$$$$ = HIV/AIDS panic.

Does anybody even take this seriouisly anymore? Even the WHO has pretty much said, “uh .... nevermind”.


12 posted on 06/05/2011 10:13:05 AM PDT by Forgotten Amendments (Laws named after kids are tyrannical.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: library user
♫ Hum ♪ Hum ♫ Hummingbird...♫

LoL

13 posted on 06/05/2011 10:14:27 AM PDT by mylife (OPINIONS ~ $ 1.00 HALFBAKED ~ 50c)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Morpheus2009

What about Magic Johnson? He refused the traditional treatments and from what I understand... is free of the disease now.


14 posted on 06/05/2011 10:14:35 AM PDT by LaineyDee (Don't mess with Texas wimmen!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Secret Agent Man

Well, this is good news for the San Fran bath houses. Yea.


15 posted on 06/05/2011 10:14:53 AM PDT by Cowgirl of Justice
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: max americana

Functionally cured means that the guy is not showing a terribly weak immune system, which is the signal of the onset of AIDS (low count of white blood cells). The real beef with the so-called cure however, is the issue of a person’s own immune system rejecting a bone marrow transplant. This means that even with the figure of 1% of the Earth’s population being resistant to the effects of AIDS, you have even fewer people than that as the person to whom they donate bone marrow is donated is anything but guaranteed to accept the bone marrow without getting sick from rejection by his/her own immune system.


16 posted on 06/05/2011 10:15:33 AM PDT by Morpheus2009
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: bgill

“And he will now probably never have any problems with HIV,”

Even if he goes out “bare-backing” and contracts it, again?


17 posted on 06/05/2011 10:16:15 AM PDT by Salamander (I wear my sunglasses at night.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Erik Latranyi
Now we just have to take 1% of the people on the planet and steal their bone marrow!

That's 1% of the Caucasians.

(Hmmmmmmm, I wonder how $much I could for mine?)

18 posted on 06/05/2011 10:17:55 AM PDT by null and void (We are now in day 864 of our national holiday from reality. - Obama really isn't one of us)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: mylife

read the comments. Our society is sick.

Totally agree. The old saying goes that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Well make that pound a ton in the case of AIDS, even this “cure” would only work for a minute sliver of those infected with HIV. Because first, you have a shrinking European minority, compounded with the fact that not everyone’s body can accept the bone marrow without rejection.


19 posted on 06/05/2011 10:19:30 AM PDT by Morpheus2009
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: LaineyDee
What about Magic Johnson? He refused the traditional treatments and from what I understand... is free of the disease now.

I think the reason he's alive today is because he refused the treatments, which are incredibly toxic.

20 posted on 06/05/2011 10:19:38 AM PDT by Mr Ramsbotham (Laws against sodomy are honored in the breech.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-54 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson