French Teen's HIV Remission Stirs Interest

he case of an 18-year-old French girl -- in remission from HIV for 12 years -- might offer clues to how the virus can be defeated, a researcher said here. The "extraordinary" case is the first time that scientists have seen such a long remission in a child, according to Asier Sáez-Cirión, PhD, of the Institut Pasteur in Paris. Advertisement But the remission came after the girl, infected perinatally, had been on full-scale antiretroviral therapy for several years with little indication of any ability to control HIV naturally, Sáez-Cirión said at the International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment, and Prevention. Indeed, during two periods of poor adherence to treatment, the child saw her viral load jump sharply, before the drugs brought HIV replication back under control. http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/IAS/52700?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2015-07-22&eun=g721819d0r