The baby of hope – Update Last November, I wrote an article titled ‘The Baby of Hope’. It told the story of a three year old child from Mississippi born to an HIV infected mother. It received anti-retroviral treatment right since birth till it was one and half years old. Then the baby stopped coming for follow-up visits and so the treatment stopped. When it was found five months later, doctors assumed that she must have developed HIV infection. But magically, there was none. She remained HIV free without treatment for the next whole year. As of my writing in November 2013, it had become a landmark case in our fight against HIV. It was a big hope for all babies born to HIV positive mothers, so I titled my article ‘The Baby of Hope’. I am sorry to give you this update. Earlier this month (July 2014),the child – now a four year old boy- was retested. He has detectable levels of HIV infection now. The HIV infection is measured by number of copies of virus per millilitre of blood. The tests revealed more than 16000 copies of virus per mL, indicating HIV infection. This development has made scientists think about how the virus hides itself in the body for such prolonged times before striking back. The researchers are also thinking what can be done to keep the young patients infection free for longer time. It’s a setback, but the scientists are not discouraged. They want to use the learning and keep up the fight against one of the deadliest enemies of humankind.
Posted on: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 06:41:25 +0000
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