Have you ever heard of the “Dusseldorf patient”? The patient, named this way to protect his privacy, was presented in 2019 by a research team that had illustrated his HIV treatment path. Today, after years of monitoring, there is confirmation of his recovery: he is the fifth person in the world to have defeated the virus and the disease linked to it. A hope for everyone, which gradually becomes certainty.
There is no more
Doctor Bjorn-Erik Ole Jensen presented the details of the case in a publication in “Nature Medicine” (I link it to you here). The article fully explains why it is a real recovery, and not simply a long-term remission.
After the 2019 press conference, in fact, the "Dusseldorf patient" stopped all therapy: nevertheless, four years later there is no sign of the presence of viruses in his body.
A more than substantial difference. HIV is a virus that, once contracted, can last a lifetime, as the virus is not completely eliminated from the body. Fortunately, with modern medications, people with HIV can live long, healthy lives. These drugs work to control the replication of the virus, preventing the immune system from being damaged and keeping the level of virus in the blood low. In this way, people with HIV can prevent the development of AIDS and live a virtually normal life.
When is healing for everyone?
I won't beat around the bush: this is the question that arises to everyone, with legitimate (but relative, after over 30 years) "impatience". Even more legitimate if we consider that the path to complete recovery from HIV now seems to have found a main road with stem cell transplantation: the treatment which, in various forms, was subjected to all 5 patients who recovered over the course of those years.
There is still work to be done, however: stem cell transplantation is a risky procedure, which cannot currently be offered to all patients. “It's amazing how difficult it has been this battle against HIV, but every time a new patient is treated we get a little closer to the finish line,” explains Dr. Todd Ellerin, an infectious disease expert at South Shore Health.
It's true: each new healing offers much more valuable information to extend this cure to everyone. And this auspicious number 5 is just what a person's open hand can show while greeting.
Maybe to say goodbye to a monster who tormented her for too long.
