Jun 3 2011
In a special report, Reuters examines the case of Timothy Ray Brown, who was cured of HIV and leukemia after undergoing "a bone marrow transplant using cells from a donor with a rare genetic mutation, known as CCR5 delta 32," which researchers knew conveyed resistance to HIV infection. Also known as "the Berlin patient," Brown's case "has injected new energy into a field where people for years believed talk of a cure was irresponsible," the news service reports (Kelland, 6/1).
The June 6 issue of New York Magazine also includes a feature on Brown's case. "What cured Timothy Brown is obviously not a cure for the rest of the world. But it is proof of concept," the magazine writes (Rosenberg, 5/29).
This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente. |