An Argentine woman diagnosed with HIV-1 reported to have achieved natural cure of the virus infection with no active treatment or any other serious medical intervention.  The 30-year old lady–“Esperanza Patient” as called by her doctors — was diagnosed with HIV-1, the most common type of Human Immunodeficiency virus, in 2013 and had gone through several follow-up checks for the next eight years along with at least 10 commercial viral load tests. 

Dr Natalia Laufer, an Argentine HIV researcher from Universidad de Buenos Aires, who studied the patient’s clinical status, said that the patient’s HIV antibody test showed she was HIV positive, but the level of virus in her was undetectable and continued so, over time. 

“This is highly unusual and is a significant leap forward in the world of HIV cure research. Upon diagnosis, her tests surprised us all,” Laufer said. 

 This is the second case of such natural cure of HIV infection, according to doctors who tested her viral load and disease status. A team of clinical researchers, after having conducted a series of tests on more than 1.5 billion blood and tissue cells, found no traces of ‘intact’ viruses in her tissue cells, confirming that she was “naturally” cured.

The first case of HIV cure reported in the world was of Adam Castillejo from Berlin. But he had received a bone marrow transplant containing HIV-resistant genes. Medical science has so far not found a cure for HIV and the knowledge until now is that once a person infected with the virus will have it lifelong.