Medical breakthrough: Rare case of woman wey her body cure HIV by itself

E appear like say one woman from Argentina don cure herself of HIV without drugs or treatment.

Dis go be di second documented case of im kind for di world.

Doctors believe say di patient immune system clear di virus on im own.

Dem no see any viable trace of di infection for inside di tests dem carry out on di over one billion for her body. Archives of Internal Medicine report.

If dis process fit dey harnessed, e fit offer one way to wipe out or effectively cure HIV, experts tok.

Eliminating HIV

Di findings na further proof say few pipo dey born wit natural resilience to HIV.

Some pipo get genes wey dey prevent infection.

Others wey include "di Esperanza patient", wey wish to remain nameless - appear to catch but then eliminate di virus.

But most pipo wey get HIV need life-long antiretroviral therapy (ART).

And if dem stop to dey take these drugs, di dormant virus go strong and cause problems again.

In recent years, however, reports don dey of "elite controllers" wey fit suppress di virus, wit help but no HIV medication.

Adam Castillejo, from London, dey able to stop im daily HIV pills afta e receive donor stem-cell treatment for cancer wey e also get.

Doctors wipe off im HIV-infected cells and replace am during di cancer therapy.

And surprisingly, im donor na one of di 1% pipo wey dey born wit genes wey dey prevent HIV entering and infecting cells.

E no clear how long dis advantage fit last for Mr Castillejo.

'Sterilising cure'

Di Esperanza patient no show any detectable HIV for more than eight years.

Loreen Willenberg, from San Francisco, also appear to dey functional afta she cure hersef of HIV by her own immune system.

And dis give hope of "sterilising cure" for other patients.

Lead investigator Dr Xu Yu, from di Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, say:

"We dey look toward di possibility of inducing dis kind of immunity in persons on ART, through vaccination, wit di goal of educating their immune systems to dey able to control di virus without ART."

'Abortive infection'

Prof John Frater, from di University of Oxford, tell BBC News while e dey almost impossible to say if pesin dey truly cured of HIV, di investigators don try "well-well wit di current technology" to prove am.

"Di key question na whether dis patient actually cure themselves or, dem bin get some form of abortive infection, wey kill di virus.

"Her immune system clearly show say she bin dey infected, no doubt about that.

"Regardless, similar patients still fit dey out there, wey go offer much to learn in di search for a HIV cure."

Prof Sarah Fidler, one expert for HIV medicine for Imperial College London, say di work go help inform immune therapies currently under development.

But Dr Andrew Freedman, from Cardiff University Medical School, say current HIV drugs dey extremely effective while future treatments dey important, improving access to life-changing ART around di globe na urgent priority.