5 ms·

If keeping the immune system from activating helps, what's the effect of wiping out the immune system completely? e.g., radiation and bone marrow transplant Ed

• exhilaration 10y ago
  HIV hides in "sanctuary sites" or "viral reservoirs" around the body and can come back even if blood tests show no traces of it for months or years, like that miracle baby that was in the news a few years ago: Initially after that child – the so-called Mississippi baby – was taken off the drugs, there was no virus detectable in her blood, and her doctor claimed a cure. Unfortunately, after four years the virus returned and she had to restart drug treatment. https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27112-hivs-hiding-places-at-last-revealed-by-simple-scan/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27112-hivs-hiding-pla...
• lawpoop 10y ago
  Related: A man with HIV and cancer was cured of HIV infection when he received a bone-marrow transplant from a donor who was HIV-immune: http://www.fredhutch.org/en/news/center-news/2015/02/timothy-ray-brown-doctor-who-cured-him.html http://www.fredhutch.org/en/news/center-news/2015/02/timothy... This was in 2007.
• aisofteng 10y ago
  It leads to quick death from something as minor as the common cold because the body has no defense mechanisms in place. This is one of many reasons why radiation therapy patients are so fragile.