Absence of Detectable HIV-1 Viremia after Treatment Cessation in an Infant

An infant born to a mother with HIV-1 infection was found to have HIV-1 RNA in the blood shortly after birth. Antiretroviral therapy was given but stopped 18 months later. Through 30 months of age, no evidence for persistent HIV-1 infection was identified. Nearly 70 million persons have acquired HIV-1 infection since the epidemic was recognized, 1 but a “cure” has been documented in one person, known as “the Berlin Patient.” 2 , 3 A cure for HIV-1 infection occurred in this person after he underwent treatment for acute myelogenous leukemia with total ablative chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and stem-cell transplantation with donor cells homozygous for chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5) delta32, with associated graft-versus-host disease. The case of the Berlin Patient shows that long-lived, replication-competent HIV-1 reservoirs can be reduced or cleared sufficiently to permit the discontinuation of ART without subsequent viral rebound. We report data from . . .