First man ‘functionally cured’ of HIV

Fri Jun 3, 5:40 pm ET
First man ‘functionally cured’ of HIV
By Liz Goodwin liz Goodwin – Fri Jun 3, 5:40 pm ET
Since HIV was discovered 30 years ago this week, 30 million people have died
from the disease, and it continues to spread at the rate of 7,000 people per day
globally, the UN says.

There's not much good news when it comes to this devastating virus. But that is
perhaps why the story of the man scientists call the "Berlin patient" is so
remarkable and has generated so much excitement among the HIV advocacy
community.

Timothy Ray Brown suffered from both leukemia and HIV when he received a bone
marrow stem cell transplant in Berlin, Germany in 2007. The transplant came from
a man who was immune to HIV, which scientists say about 1 percent of Caucasians
are. (According to San Francisco's CBS affiliate, the trait may be passed down
from ancestors who became immune to the plague centuries ago. This Wired story
says it was more likely passed down from people who became immune to a
smallpox-like disease.)

What happened next has stunned the dozens of scientists who are closely
monitoring Brown: His HIV went away.

"He has no replicating virus and he isn't taking any medication. And he will now
probably never have any problems with HIV," his doctor Gero Huetter told
Reuters. Brown now lives in the Bay Area, and suffers from some mild
neurological difficulties after the operation. "It makes me very happy," he says
of the incredible cure.

The development of anti-retroviral drugs in the 1990s was the first sign of hope
in the epidemic, transforming the disease from a sudden killer to a more
manageable illness that could be lived with for decades. But still, the
miraculous cocktail of drugs is expensive, costing $13 billion a year in
developing countries alone, according to Reuters. That figure is expected to
triple in 20 years--raising the worry that more sick people will not be able to
afford treatment.

Although Brown's story is remarkable, scientists were quick to point out that
bone marrow transplants can be fatal, and there's no way Brown's treatment could
be applied to the 33.3 million people around the world living with HIV. The
discovery does encourage "cure research," according to Dr. Jay Levy, who
co-discovered HIV thirty years ago, something that many people did not even
think was possible years ago.

You can watch Brown talk about his cure in this CBS video report.
(Brown: Eric Risberg/AP)
This article has been updated to include more context about why some people are
immune to HIV.