A man was recently diagnosed with HIV after 24 months on a drug intended to prevent HIV infection. A physician at the Maple Leaf Medical Clinic in Toronto, Canada who treated the patient presented the case study last week at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Boston. Here's what happened, and why it matters.
Two men with HIV seem to have been cleared of the virus after receiving stem-cell transplants to treat their lymphoma, scientists announced Wednesday at an International AIDS Society conference in Kuala Lumpur. One of the men has now been off off antiretroviral therapy for 15 weeks; the other stopped taking HIV-suppressing drugs seven weeks ago.
It's no cure, but it could mark a significant victory in the fight against HIV. A 17-member advisory panel for the Food and Drug Administration has endorsed an over-the-counter HIV test that would allow consumers to test themselves for the AIDS-causing virus in the privacy of their own homes in just 20 minutes.
