The findings of the French study follow the news that a baby in the US has also shown no further sign of HIV after aggressive drug treatment within hours of her birth, which stopped after 18 months with the tot free of the virus.
Both studies seem to suggest that early medical intervention could be the key to halting the progress of HIV. However, doctors have warned those receiving treatment for HIV not to stop taking their medication because, without it, they are likely to develop AIDS and neither case reveals if early treatment would benefit every individual with HIV.
The 14 adults in the French study were part of a group known as the VISCONTI cohort – Viro-Immunologic Sustained Control After Treatment Interruption – who were treated with anti-retroviral drugs within 10 weeks of diagnosis of the HIV infection. On average, their treatment stopped after three years. The virus remains in their blood but at a much lower level and so each has stayed healthy.
When a person is infected with HIV, cells known as reservoirs form in the body. These contain the DNA of the virus and remain in the body, their levels rising and falling depending on the individual’s health. It is the levels of these reservoirs that the French research team has been monitoring in the participants.
The study has not identified if there is a single factor common to each individual in the study that is responsible for reducing HIV levels in their system. None of those taking part are among the rare group of people known as “elite controllers” who do not require drugs to stop HIV but the French research team has concluded that they are “post-treatment controllers” and said theirs was a “functional cure” that allowed for long-term control of the infection.