A 42-year-old American man living in Germany who had both leukemia and the HIV virus received a bone marrow transplant in 2006 that appears to have cured both diseases. The donor had a genetic resistance to the virus, which has led some doctors to surmise that HIV could be treatable on a genetic level. Experts said that bone marrow transplantation is a common leukemia treatment, but that they did not expect it to cure HIV. They stressed that this was an unusual case that requires further research.BBC: Bone marrow 'cures HIV patient' (November 13, 2008)
Quotes
"Without having that much information about the specific case you would want to be very cautious about getting too excited and you wouldn't be able to replicate that treatment for a lot of people with HIV."BBC: Bone marrow 'cures HIV patient' (November 13, 2008)—Professor Philip Goulder
"The problem is most people with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa and this is hugely expensive, you have to find a matched donor, and it's a pretty severe and painful operation."BBC: Bone marrow 'cures HIV patient' (November 13, 2008)—Professor Andrew Sewell
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1% of Europeans and Americans have genetic resistance to HIVWSJ Blogs: Did a Bone Marrow Transplant... (November 7, 2008)
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