Third person reportedly cured of HIV using novel stem cell transplant in America

An American research team reported that it has possibly cured HIV in a woman for the first time, A group of scientists presented some of the details of the new case on Tuesday at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Denver, Colorado.

She is believed to be the third person ever to be cured of the disease.

According to scientists, she was cured using a new transplant method involving umbilical cord blood that opens up the possibility of curing more people of diverse racial backgounds than was previously possible.

Cord blood is more widely available than the adult stem cells typically used in bone marrow transplants, and does not need to be matched as closely to the recipient, the Times reported.

“The fact that she’s mixed race, and that she’s a woman, that is really important scientifically and really important in terms of the community impact,” said Dr. Steven Deeks, an AIDS expert at the University of California, San Francisco who was not involved in the work.