An 18-year old French teenager who was born with HIV infection was able to get hold of the virus in her body without the antiretroviral treatment, a drug used to control HIV, which she stopped taking 12 years ago, according to reports.
While HIV cases continue to rise from time to time, the cure for the virus remains unknown. However, health officials take the new case as a potential lead to cure an HIV infection.
"This case is clearly additional evidence of the powerful benefit of starting treatment as soon as possible," said by Francoise Barre-Sinoussi from Pasteur Institute.
The remission is a rare case for someone who's infected with HIV and doctors said that the girl may be using some form of natural resistance against AIDS.
Her case raises hope for an HIV functional cure wherein the carrier can control the infection without relying on drugs.
The HIV-infected girl, who inherited the virus from her HIV-positive mother, was immediately given antiretroviral treatment not too long after she was born.
However, when she reached the age of six, she stopped the treatment and when she returned for a check-up a year after, she was discovered to have undetectable levels of HIV in the blood despite her break from antiretroviral treatment.
A similar case was reported a few years back, which involved a girl living in Mississippi, who had her HIV monitored for 27 months without the treatment before it came back.
Upon presenting the girl's case during the 8th International AIDS Society conference held in Vancouver, Asier Saez-Cirion from France's Institute Pasteur, said that "it's the first time that long term remission was seen in children or adolescents".
Besides pointing out 'natural resistance' as one of the means, researchers believe that there is also something unusual in the girl's biology. As for now, the doctors have no idea if the remission will last or not.
