Doctors Claim To Have Found ‘Functional Cure For AIDS’

In 1995, Timothy Ray Brown tested positive for HIV. Today, the virus has been completely eliminated from his body by using what doctors are calling a “functional cure” for HIV/AIDS.

Brown had a bone marrow transplant in Berlin in 2007 and has since been HIV free.

"I quit taking my HIV medication on the day that I got the transplant and haven't had to take any since," he said.

The reason for the sudden change of luck was that the bone marrow doctors used in his transplant came from a person immune to HIV.

Yes, there are people that are immune to HIV — about 1% of Caucasians.

Said Dr. Jay Levy, on of the discoverers of this cure:

"If you're able to take the white cells from someone and manipulate them so they're no longer infectable by HIV, and those white cells become the whole immune system of that individual, you've got essentially what we call a functional cure."

Scientists say that there is still a lot of work to be done in this area, and that they are still not completely sure how exactly to replicate Brown’s success story. BUT, this opens up a super productive area of research.

This is inspiring!

[Image via AP Images.]

Tags: aids, functional cure, hiv