Doctors discover rare group of elite ‘HIV controllers’
The Lancet research says something physiological has taken place in these patients in the Democratic Republic of Congo
New HIV treatments, including a vaccine, could be on the horizon, reports a new study in the Lancet.
Treatment hopes for about 30,000 infected Australians come on the back of research involving more than 10,000 people that identified a rare group with controlled HIV.
The researchers found the group from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) — where the disease originated — tested positive for HIV antibodies but had low-to-no detectable viral load counts without antiretroviral therapy.
These people are known as ‘HIV elite controllers’ who were found to be well despite not having anti-viral drugs, say the researchers from the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
