First Woman Reported cured of HIV After Stem Cell Transplant

A U.S. patient with leukemia has become the first woman and the third person to date to be cured of HIV after receiving a stem cell transplant.

A woman of mixed race was cured of HIV, using a new transplant method involving umbilical cord blood.

About HIV:

• Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a lentivirus, which is a sub-classification of the retrovirus.
• It causes the HIV infection which over time leads to AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome). 
  
  
• AIDS is a deadly condition in which the affected person’s immune system fails, leading to the spread of life-threatening infections and cancers in his body.
• HIV demolishes a particular type of WBC(White Blood Cells) and the T-helper cells. This virus also makes copies of itself inside these cells.
• T-helper cells are also known as CD4 cells.
• The average survival period for a person affected with HIV without treatment is nine to eleven years, subject to the subtype of HIV.
• HIV infection can occur by the transference of blood, breast milk, vaginal fluid, semen, or pre-ejaculate.
• HIV occurs as both free virus particles and as a virus inside the infected immune cells within the above-mentioned bodily fluids.
• A weak immune system makes a person prone to opportunistic infections and cancer.
• It becomes difficult for a person infected with this virus to recover from even a minor injury or sickness.

About Stem Cell:

• A stem cell is a cell with the unique ability to develop into specialized cell types in the body.
• These cells provide new cells for the body as it grows, and replace specialized cells that are damaged or lost.
• In the future, they will be used to replace cells and tissues that have been damaged or lost due to disease.
• Our body is made up of numerous types of cells.
• Most cells are specialized for particular functions, like the red blood cells that carry oxygen in our bodies through the blood, but they are unable to divide.
• All stem cells regardless of their source have three general properties:
• They are capable of dividing and renewing themselves for long periods
• They are unspecialized
• They can give rise to specialized cell types

Stem cell therapy:

• Stem cell therapy, also known as regenerative medicine, promotes the repair response of diseased, dysfunctional, or injured tissue using stem cells or their derivatives.
• Stem cells may be one of the ways of generating new cells that can be transplanted into the body to replace the damaged or lost cells.