HIV/AIDS is one of the most dreaded diseases in today’s world due to its incurability, but research is fast making grounds in finding a cure.
A nine-year-old infected with HIV at birth has spent most of their life without needing any treatment, say doctors in South Africa, the BBC report.
The child, whose identity is being protected, was given a burst of treatment shortly after birth.
The child has since been off drugs for eight-and-a-half years without symptoms or signs of active virus.
The family is said to be “really delighted” with the health of the child.
The child caught the infection from the mother around the time of birth in 2007. They had very high levels of HIV in the blood.
Early antiretroviral therapy was not standard practice at the time, but was given to the child from nine weeks old as part of a clinical trial.
Levels of the virus became undetectable, treatment was stopped after 40 weeks and unlike anybody else on the study – the virus has not returned.
Most people need treatment every day to prevent HIV destroying the immune system and causing Aids. But this child has been without treatment since she was a toddler and researchers now believe this could create new grounds in the research to eliminate HIV.
Prof Diana Gibb, who is based in London, told the BBC News website: “It captures the imagination because you’ve got a virtual cure and it is exciting to see cases like this.
“But it is important to remember it is one child.
“HIV is still a massive problem around the world and we mustn’t put all our eyes on to one phenomenon like this, as opposed to looking at the bigger issues for Africa.”