The only known person to have been cured of AIDS pitches in to find a cure
Timothy Ray Brown, believed to be the only man to have been cured of AIDS, plans to join the search for a cure for others by founding an AIDS research foundation.
“I am living proof there could be a cure for AIDS,” Mr. Brown told a press conference in Washington on Tuesday. “I am now choosing to dedicate my life, my body, and my story to finding a cure for AIDS.” Mr. Brown said he would partner with the World AIDS Institute to raise money for research into a cure.
Six years ago, Mr. Brown was HIV-positive. During treatment for leukaemia, he underwent a stem cell transplant in Berlin.
A few years later, doctors could no longer find HIV in his body.
Some doctors declared the “Berlin patient” cured. But they emphasised that Mr. Brown’s was a unique and complicated case, not immediately applicable to other patients.
They also surmised that the virus may still be present in his body, but in such small quantities that it is no longer detectable.
“I am the first, and I believe the first of many people who will be cured of the AIDS virus,” said Mr. Brown.
“There is undoubtedly a certain amount of scepticism, but that is the way science progresses.”
A lot of ruckus has been going around that researchers now have a strong lead to cure HIV/AIDS, one of them being stem cell transplants. But how many people will be able to afford it? The majority of people that suffer from AIDS is in Africa, and all the medication they get are cheap versions of ARVs they get from government funded clinics. I'd say we still got a long way to go before we can make a cure that are affordable for the majority of people suffering from HIV/AIDS. But to those that are HIV+, keep on taking your medication and try to live as long as possible, because people are saying that they can see light at the end of this long dark tunnel!
Mr Brown, have you undergone a treatment where the doctors definitely confirmed that HIV is no longer existent in you? I have a sister who is HIV positive and I'd very glad to know if you are really cured because I am desperate.
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