Speranza’s body has succeeded in eliminating the HIV virus that causes AIDS without resorting to treatment. It is the second case known to achieve this.
A second case was documented of a person infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), whose body got rid of the virus in a “natural” way, that is, without the need for medication. Scientists believe that studying these examples could help develop treatments for other affected people.
The results of the study were presented to the patient “Speranza” this week in the scientific journal Internal Medicine Archives. Esperanza is considered an “elite watcher”, meaning someone who, although infected with the virus, has an immune system that is able to “control” the virus without resorting to treatment.
Esperanza’s case, reported by scientists at the Ragon Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University in the United States, is the second known case of an immune system that “overcame HIV without resorting to treatments.” Neither she nor Lauren needed to take antiretroviral drugs to stop the virus from multiplying.
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