Good News: A third person has been completely cured of HIV

10 years ago a man, now aged 53, was given a stem cell transplant. It’s a treatment usually used to treat leukaemia, and upon receiving the transplant he became known as “The Dussledorf Patient”, joining The London Patient and The Berlin Patient.

10 years on, and it has been confirmed that he is now the third person to be completely cured of HIV. As in the case of London and Berlin, Mr Dussledorf had been given the transplant to treat an acute blood disease that had developed. He said that he “dismissed it” when his doctor told him not to worry, together they were going to cure HIV.

It is now understood that people with two copies of the Δ32 mutation in the gene associated with HIV-1 receptors, are actually resistant to infection by the disease. All 3 of the cured men have been given transplants from donors with this mutation.

Currently, this treatment is still considered high risk, and is only an option for some people living with both HIV-1 and blood cancers, but given the success of all 3 of these patients, there is hope that they could inform and contribute to the development of treatments for HIV-1 that achieve long-term remission.