It is a disease that still kills 600,000 people every year.
There are only six patients in the world who are completely free of the virus.
TF1info met one of them, Romuald, who we call the “Geneva patient”.
Romuld’s case has caused an uproar in the small world of research. And for good reason. Infected at age 17, he lived with HIV for nearly thirty years. Today the virus has disappeared from his body. “Medicine can speak of remission, of healing. I like the word ‘Eraser’. Because we erase what we don’t like“, Genevan explains in the TF1 video at the top of this article. Now six of them are about to be cured of AIDS, there are only six in the whole world. Their common point: they all had to fight leukemia, and received it. This bone marrow transplant is
without treatment for three years
But Romuald’s profile is unique. Because in other cases, the cure was explained by the genetic characteristics of the donors. “This is the first time doctors have discovered that without this famous mutation, there may be cases like mine that no longer need treatment. I find it fabulous for me, but also for research“, underlines Romuald on TF1’s microphone. Romuald experienced this extraordinary journey together with his doctors.
After the transplant, the two decided together to slowly taper off his HIV treatment, at the risk of seeing the virus flare up in his body. “When we realized that we could simplify the treatment to such an extent. It does not detect viremia (the presence of virus in the blood, editor’s note). We said to ourselves: something is really at stake here“, says Professor Alexandra Calmy, head of the HIV Unit at the Department of Infectious Diseases of the University Hospitals of Geneva (Hugh) in Switzerland. For three years, Romuald testifies, he has been able to live without any treatment against HIV.
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Romuald’s case surprised researchers and his cells are being examined in the laboratory of the Pasteur Institute with the hope of developing a new research hypothesis. “This may lead us to new therapeutic strategies for others living with the virus and without undergoing a bone marrow transplant.“, underlines Asier Sáez-Cirion, Research Director of the Institut Pasteur and President of the Scientific and Medical Committee of Sidaction, on TF1’s microphone. Especially since transplants present risks and do not provide a cure for HIV among researchers. By Romuald Targeting the anti-rejection drug taken and plans to start clinical trials in the coming years.
(TagsToTranslate)Disease & Treatment
