A breakthrough in the race to cure HIV

In 2008, an experimental treatment led to the first documented case of someone being effectively cured of HIV. The man, who was called “The Berlin Patient,” significantly advanced our understanding of the disease and sparked hope among the millions of HIV-positive people around the world. 

While treatments and prognoses for the illness have improved dramatically since then, an actual cure has proved elusive. But now, the case of a person being called “The Next Berlin Patient” is leading to renewed hope that HIV could go from a chronic to a curable condition. 

Dr. Christian Gaebler is a physician, scientist, and immunologist at the Charité Hospital in Berlin.

“It really gives us these case reports that we need to study and understand better, that we can learn from and then hopefully make a scalable cure,” said Dr. Gaebler. 

So what’s different about this case compared to the other handful of people who have seen their HIV go into remission? And how do scientists take it from a case study to a mass-producible treatment?

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