Monday, July 14, 2014

HEALTH - Setback, 'Cured Child' HIV Returns

"HIV rebound in young child is ‘another step’ in long process of AIDS research" PBS NewsHour 7/11/2014

Excerpt

JEFFREY BROWN (NewsHour):  It was in March of last year that doctors thought they might have made a breakthrough in the goal of finding a cure for AIDS, treating a baby girl in Mississippi with early and unusually aggressive drug therapy.

The mother had HIV and had not been treated during pregnancy.  But the girl was treated within 30 hours of her birth and was free of the virus for two years.  Doctors allowed her to stay off therapy and, still, there were no signs of HIV returning.

But, yesterday, officials announced that the girl, now almost 4, had tested positive for HIV during a follow-up visit last week.

Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases joins me now.

And welcome back to you.

This is something that you and I talked about when the news came out last year.  So, remind us first why this seemed so hopeful, how this early and aggressive treatment promised such a difference.

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