The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks and compromises the body's immune system, resulting in affected individuals facing long-term debilitating health. Without treatment, HIV-infected individuals typically succumb to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) or opportunistic secondary infections and other illnesses. Because HIV infection usually lasts throughout life and cannot be eliminated, medical interventions are directed toward maintaining the quality of life of infected individuals and preventing the virus from spreading to others. However, there have been unique cases that point to the possibility of a spontaneous HIV remission as the result of early antiretroviral therapy (ART) or due to some type of genetic mechanism [for example, mechanisms in which functional codons (sequences of three nucleotides in the messenger RNA) are converted to stop codons, leading to the creation of defective and nonfunctional HIV proteins]. See also: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS); Genetic code; Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); Immunological deficiency; Immunology; Infection; Opportunistic infections; Retrovirus; Spontaneous HIV cure; Virus; Virus classification
Notably, there have been a few reported cases in which a child has displayed a sustained HIV remission after early, limited anti-HIV treatment. In South Africa, a child who had been diagnosed with HIV infection about one month after birth started receiving ART at 9 weeks of age. After 40 weeks of therapy, the virus was suppressed to undetectable levels and the treatment was halted. Remarkably, the child has remained in good health during 9 years of follow-up examinations. Although investigators have been able to detect a reservoir of virus integrated into a tiny proportion of immune cells of this individual, they have found no evidence of HIV infection. Overall, the child possesses a healthy level of key immune cells and no symptoms of HIV infection. See also: Cellular immunology; Clinical immunology
The sustained HIV remission in this and other similar cases has been ascribed to the early ART regimen, providing hope that other HIV-infected children could have similar positive outcomes if early treatment regimens are applied for a brief period beginning in infancy. It also has been suggested that the conclusions drawn from the induction of long-term HIV remission in infected infants could lead scientists to understand better how the immune system controls HIV replication in general, thereby opening opportunities to develop therapies for HIV-infected individuals of all ages. Still, researchers caution that other factors, excluding the early ART interventions, could have contributed to the HIV remission in these instances, so further investigations are required. See also: Biological basis of natural resistance to HIV; Epidemiology; HIV binding to cells