Potential cure for HIV?

Treatment for HIV today consists of many types of antiviral drugs that each
target a specific viral function. Since the virus can mutate quickly inside the body,
patients have to take their specific drug cocktail everyday without fail or risk their
infection getting worse. While many researchers have been looking for a way to
cure HIV infection, none has been found. But recently, a treatment has shown
potential success in treating HIV patients. A patient living London recently became
the second known person to be seemingly cleared of HIV after receiving a bone
marrow transplant from a donor with a unique mutation making them HIV resistant.

According to the physician and researchers treating this patient, this does not mean
the patient is cured necessarily, because they will have to wait and see if the infection
returns. The patient was first diagnosed with HIV in 2003 and in 2012 was also
diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. In 2016, when the patient was very sick from the
cancer, the doctors decided to search for a transplant donor.

A potential cure for HIV infection would be a major break through if it is found to be
successful, and it does raise other questions in the context of the recent gene edited
babies breaking news. If the number of HIV resistant bone marrow donors is very low,
how would we equitably treat all the people who suffer from HIV? Is there a risk that gene
edited babies who are HIV resistant could be used for harvesting bone marrow on the
black market?

Renata Starbird

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/hiv-positive-man-u-k-2nd-known-adult-worldwide-be-n979186