A middle-aged American woman of mixed race became the first female to be cured of AIDS, and the third known case of a person being cured of AIDS in the world, Reuters reports.
The patient, an acute myeloid leukemia patient, received a stem cell transplant from a donor who was naturally resistant to the virus that causes AIDS, researchers report. She has been virus-free for 14 months and has not been using antiretroviral therapy over that time, showing that the virus is in remission. She is also the first to receive umbilical cord blood, a process researcher say could make the treatment available to more patients.
Two other patients–a white male and a Latino male–have been clear of HIV and AIDS using adult stem cells.