An Argentina woman named "Esperanza patient" to protect her identity became the second case of an HIV-positive individual to be cleared from the disease because of her immune system.

The historic breakthrough on HIV was confirmed by researchers of a study that was published on Monday in Annals of Internal Medicine, NBC News reported.

According to the researchers, the case of the 30-year-old mother from Argentina, called "Esperanza patient," - named after the town she came from - will bring hope to an estimated 38 million people around the globe living with HIV.

"I enjoy being healthy... I have a healthy family. I don't have to medicate, and I live as though nothing has happened," the Esperanza patient said in an email, adding that what she is experiencing is already a "privilege."

Argentina Woman: HIV Cured

Researchers revealed that "Esperanza patient" was diagnosed with HIV in 2013, and she had never shown any signs of the said illness, STAT News reported. Furthermore, the scientists also said that traditional tests did not identify evidence that the virus was alive and replicating in her body.

Researchers from Argentina and Massachusetts took over her case in 2017, as they "meticulously scanned" her DNA of more than a billion cells, as they search for the signs that the HIV was still hiding in her body.

However, the researchers said on Monday that they were not able to find any HIV in the body of "Esperanza patient."

"This is the miracle of the human immune system that did it," Dr. Xu Yu said. Xu Yu is known to be a viral immunologist from the Ragon Institute in Boston, who works with Dr. Natalia Laufer from the INBIRS institute in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The two experts led the "exhaustive" study and search for any viable HIV in "Esperanza patient."

Xu Yu added that Esperanza's recovery from the disease gave hope that the human immune system is powerful enough" to control the HIV and remove all the "functional virus" from the body.

"Time will tell, but we believe that she has reached a sterilizing cure," Dr. Xu Yu pointed out.

Xu Yu then added that the next step is to find out the mechanisms on how the immune system eradicates the HIV and how they can "recapitulate" this to everyone who was stricken with the disease.

First HIV Patient Cured Because of Her Immune System

If "Esperanza patient" was considered the second case of HIV to be cured by her immune system, a 67-year-old named Loreen Willenberg from California was the first case.

Willenberg was known to control the HIV for nearly three decades without the use of antiretroviral drugs.

"Curing HIV was always assumed to be impossible... With these possible natural cures providing a road map for a cure, I am hoping that we can come up with an intervention that one day might work for everyone," HIV researcher Steven Deeks said.

Currently, there is no cure for HIV yet, but antiretroviral treatment (ART) is present that can control HIV and allow people to live longer, AVERT reported.

The said treatment can reduce the level of HIV in their body to the point that they cannot pass it on to someone else.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written By: Joshua Summers

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