HIV::

HIV infection returns to four-year-old girl thought cured of disease

PHOTO: Doctors will continue to study the toddler's case to find out how she remained disease-free.

An American girl born with HIV but thought to have been cured of the virus has seen her infection return.

The child, now four, was born in the southern US state of Mississippi in 2010 to a HIV-infected mother who was untreated during pregnancy.

The baby was given a potent dose of anti-retroviral medication 30 hours after birth, and tested positive for HIV.

She went off her medication to suppress the human immunodeficiency virus when she was 18 months old, but somehow remained disease-free, showing no detectable level of the virus for more than two years.

Her case raised hopes that doctors may have found a way to cure young children who are born HIV-positive, simply by treating them with drugs early.

But during a routine clinical care visit earlier this month, the girl was tested and and was found to have detectable HIV levels in her blood, as well as a decreased T-cell count and the presence of HIV antibodies.

All those factors signaled HIV was actively replicating again in her body.

"Certainly, this is a disappointing turn of events for this young child, the medical staff involved in the child's care, and the HIV/AIDS research community," said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute on Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Dr Fauci said the child is being treated once again with anti-retroviral medication and is doing well.

"The case of the Mississippi child indicates that early anti-retroviral treatment in this HIV-infected infant did not completely eliminate the reservoir of HIV-infected cells that was established upon infection, but may have considerably limited its development and averted the need for anti-retroviral medication over a considerable period," he said.

Researchers will now turn their attention to understanding why and how the child went into remission, with the hope of extending that time period further in future cases.

original post found herhttp://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-11/hiv-infection-returns-to-girl-thought-cured/5589022