Doctors say second newborn possibly cured of HIV

In a hopeful instance of déjà vu, a second baby born with HIV has been possibly cured of the virus after intense and early post-birth treatment — by a team including Dr. Deborah Persaud, a physician at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.

The little girl was born last April in a Los Angeles suburb to an HIV-positive mother who was negligent in self-administering her medications. In an effort to avert transmission of the virus, doctors dispensed AIDS drugs to the mother during labor and then again to the baby girl several hours post-birth. Multiple tests confirmed that the virus was indeed initially passed from the mother to the child.

Now ten months later, after continued treatment, test results indicate that the child is, for all intents and purposes, HIV-free. It is still unclear as to whether or not the toddler is in remission or is actually cured, although her doctors are hopeful.

Persaud led the testing that confirmed the absence of the disease.

“The baby’s signs are different from what doctors see in patients whose infections are merely suppressed by successful treatment,” she said in a statement.

Physicians presented details of the situation at a recent AIDS conference in Boston and the case is now being compared to a similar groundbreaking case that made the news last year.

The first case regarding the curing of AIDS in an infant occurred in Mississippi and was brought to the public eye just weeks prior to the birth of the California baby girl.

In that case, the mother, contrary to most HIV-positive mothers, did not receive prenatal care for her virus in order to decrease the chances of passing it on to her child.

Her HIV was actually discovered during labor, which left the medical staff a very short window of time to begin medications.

The Mississippi child received aggressive antiretroviral treatment just 30 hours after birth. Subsequent serial testing showed a decreasing presence of the virus in the infant’s blood. The child remained on medications until about 18 months of age.

Now, at three-and-a-half years old, the Mississippi baby is still negative for HIV-specific antibodies. The lack of such antibodies indicates that the body is no longer dealing with the virus and may therefore be cured. Persaud, in collaboration with physicians and investigators from the University of Mississippi Medical Center and the University of Massachusetts Medical School, was the head author detailing the case.

Antiretroviral treatment of HIV involves administering a combination of AIDS medications in an effort to suppress the reproduction of the virus in the body.

Most adult HIV-positive patients undergo this regimen throughout their lives in an effort to maximize quality of life and stave off the effects of the debilitating virus.

These latest cases seem to indicate that rigorous and time sensitive care in the treatment of infants can possibly eradicate the virus in its entirety.