‘Mississippi baby’ thought cured of HIV has virus again

A child thought to have been cured of HIV now has detectable levels of the virus, US health officials said.

The child, known as the "Mississippi baby", was the subject of a case study of prolonged remission from the infection that was published in The New England Journal of Medicine last year.

The child, now four years old, was born prematurely in a Mississippi clinic in 2010 to an HIV-infected mother. After being given treatment for 18 months, the child then went for more than two years without anti-retroviral medicines and during that time blood samples revealed undetectable HIV levels.

“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 Dr AnthonyFauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infections Diseases.

Reuters