Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Tuesday 25 July 2017

Girl’s HIV infection seems under control without AIDS drugs

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE study testing a long-acting
AP Chief Medical Writer combo of two HIV drugs
A South African girl born — Janssen’s rilpivirine and
with the AIDS virus has kept ViiV Healthcare’s cabote-
her infection suppressed for gravir.
more than eight years af- Cabotegravir is experimen-
ter stopping anti-HIV medi- tal; rilpivirine is sold now as
cines — more evidence Edurant and used in com-
that early treatment can bination with other drugs
occasionally cause a long for treating certain types of
remission that, if it lasts, HIV patients.
would be a form of cure. After initial treatment to
Her case was revealed get their virus under con-
Monday at an AIDS con- trol, about 300 study par-
ference in Paris, where ticipants were given either
researchers also gave en- daily combination therapy
couraging results from tests pills or a shot every four or
of shots every month or eight weeks of the long-
two instead of daily pills to acting drug duo to main-
treat HIV. tain control.
“That’s very promising” to After nearly two years, 94
help people stay on treat- percent on eight-week
ment, the U.S.’s top AIDS This undated photo provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a shots, 87 percent on four-
scientist, Dr. Anthony Fau- scanning electron micrograph of multiple round bumps of the HIV-1 virus on a cell surface. week shots and 84 percent
ci, said of the prospects for Associated Press on daily pills had their in-
long-acting drugs. fections suppressed, with
Current treatments able that in some cases, ducing. The girl does not sumed. similar rates of side effects.
keep HIV under control and the South African have a gene mutation that At least a dozen adults also “The results were good
but must be taken life- girl is the third child who gives natural resistance to have had remissions lasting regardless of whether
long. Only one person is achieved a long remission HIV infection, Fauci said, so for years after stopping HIV people came monthly or
thought to be cured — the after that approach. her remission seems likely medicines. every two months for their
so-called Berlin patient, a She was in a study spon- due to the early treatment. A study underway now is treatment. This has impor-
man who had a bone mar- sored by the agency Fauci The previous cases: testing whether treating tant policy implications,”
row transplant in 2007 from heads, the National Insti- —A French teen who was HIV-infected newborns said Dr. Linda-Gail Bek-
a donor with natural resis- tute of Allergy and Infec- born with HIV and is now within two days of birth can ker, deputy director of the
tance to HIV. tious Diseases, that pre- around 20 has had her in- control the virus later after Desmond Tutu HIV Centre
But transplants are risky viously found that early fection under control de- treatment stops. at the University of Cape
and impractical to try to versus delayed treatment spite no HIV medicines It started in 2014 in South Town in South Africa, and
cure the millions already in- helped babies survive. since she was roughly 6 America, Haiti, Africa and a co-leader of the confer-
fected. So some research- The girl, who researchers years old. the United States, and ence.
ers have been aiming for did not identify, started on —A Mississippi baby born some of the earliest partici- The study was sponsored
the next best thing — long- HIV drugs when she was 2 with HIV in 2010 suppressed pants might be able to try by the drugmakers. Results
term remission, when the months old and stopped 40 her infection for 27 months stopping treatment later were published in the Brit-
immune system can con- weeks later. Tests when she after stopping treatment this year. ish medical journal Lancet.
trol HIV without drugs even was 9 1/2 years old found before it reappeared in Treatment might get easier Two large studies aimed
if signs of the virus remain. signs of virus in a small num- her blood. She was able to if two large studies under- at winning approval to sell
Aggressive treatment soon ber of immune system cells, get the virus under control way now confirm results the treatment are testing
after infection might en- but none capable of repro- again after treatment re- reported Monday from a the monthly shots. q