Researchers say ‘Geneva patient’ is the sixth person with HIV in long-term remission

A man dubbed the "Geneva patient" is the latest person with HIV to be declared in long-term remission -- however he did not receive a transplant with a virus-blocking gene mutation like previous cases, researchers said Thursday.

Five people have previously been considered "cured" of HIV: the Berlin, London, Duesseldorf, New York and City of Hope, California patients.

All had bone marrow transplants to treat serious cases of cancer, receiving stem cells from a donor with a mutation of the CCR5 gene. This mutation is known to block HIV from entering the body's cells.

In 2018, the Geneva patient similarly received a stem cell transplant to treat a particularly aggressive form of leukaemia.

But this time the transplant came from a donor who did not carry the CCR5 mutation, French and Swiss researchers told a press conference in the Australian city of Brisbane as part of an AIDS conference that begins at the weekend.

This means that the virus is still able to enter the patient's cells.

However, 20 months after the man stopped taking antiretroviral treatment -- which reduces the amount of HIV in the blood -- doctors at Geneva University Hospitals have not found a trace of the virus in his system, the researchers said.

While they cannot rule out that the man's HIV will return, the researchers said they consider him to be in long-term remission.

(AFP)