Scientists Decode Spontaneous HIV Cure

Two HIV-infected men appear to have experienced a “spontaneous cure” to HIV, which may hold the secret to combatting the virus. French scientists studied the two men who contracted HIV but never developed AIDS symptoms. They came from a group known as “elite controllers,” the fewer than 1 percent of people who contract HIV can control the virus’ replication on their own. Scientists discovered that the virus remained in their cells but was inactive. They both had genetic mechanism that appeared to alter HIV’s genetic code. "The work opens up therapeutic avenues for a cure, using or stimulating this enzyme, and avenues for identifying individuals among newly-infected patients who have a chance of a spontaneous cure,” the team wrote in the journal Clinical Microbiology and Infection.