How close are we to a cure for HIV?

The Unisa Campus Health Clinic would like to send sincere condolences to the family and friends of Timothy Ray Brown, who died on 29 September 2020 from leukaemia.

However, the clinic would like to emphasise to staff and students that there is no approved cure for HIV as yet. The treatment that Brown underwent when he was diagnosed with a type of blood cancer known as acute myeloid leukaemia, and which apparently cured his HIV, was one of a few rare experimental cases using stem cell transplants. According to the article quoted below: “Most experts say it could never become a way to cure all HIV patients, since many of them would risk death from the procedure itself.”

Research for a cure is ongoing, but until then, current best practice typically involves a cocktail of antiretroviral therapy which HIV patients take their entire lives.

https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/world/2020-09-30-timothy-ray-brown-the-first-person-cured-of-hiv-has-died-of-leukaemia/

*Submitted by Lebogang Kotsokoane, Health Promoter: HIV/AIDS Division, Employee Relations & Wellness Directorate, Human Resources Department

Teaser image by Miguel Á Padriñán from Pixabay