Infected Infant Appears to Clear HIV


A baby who was HIV infected at birth appears to have cleared
the virus and become HIV-negative, according to an article in
the March 30 NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE.

Viral culture tests were positive at 19 and 51 days of age,
but all later tests have been negative. Because samples were
saved, the virus could be tested again later; it was found to
be identical, and related to the mother's virus, largely
ruling out the possibility that the HIV-positive sample had
been mislabeled and was really from someone else.

Other cases of seroreversion in infants, in which an HIV
infection appears to have cleared, have been found by the
same research group (at the University of California Los
Angeles School of Medicine), and have been reported in the
medical literature by others. But these reports have usually
been attributed to laboratory mistakes. While testing can be
repeated to make sure that the person is indeed HIV negative,
usually it is impossible to rule out a mistake in the
original test which found them to be positive. The current
case is important because it was documented well enough to
convince the researchers, and the NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF
MEDICINE. Many other cases may have been missed; researchers
will be more open to this possibility in the future.

These cases may be important in helping researchers discover
what kind of immune response is effective against the virus
-- information which could contribute to both vaccine and
treatment development.