The Harry Potter of AIDS

[Kyusuibu Honbu]

The Harry Potter of AIDS​

To the millions of people living with a diagnosis of HIV/AIDS, Timothy Brown is the Harry Potter of the disease: Like the young wizard who survived Lord Voldemort’s wrath, he is the boy who lived. Today, almost 20 years after he became infected, Brown is, essentially, cured. Brown, now 45, is known in medical-journal circles as ‘The Berlin Patient’, a moniker assigned him by a February 2009 case study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

In a ‘Brief Report’, oncologist Gero Huetter and his colleagues at Berlin’s University Hospital described the unique stem-cell transplant of an HIV-infected patient — Brown — who had acute myeloid leukaemia, and the remarkable result: Twenty months after the procedure, the virus had not reappeared in Brown’s body, even though he was no longer taking antiretroviral drugs.

The bone marrow Brown received in a time-tested treatment for leukaemia had given him an extraordinary gift. It had also transferred to Brown’s immune system an uncommon genetic variation — present in an estimated 10 per cent of northern Europeans — that rendered it resistant to HIV.

It’s been a winding road to medical fame, Brown said in an interview last week. Raised in Seattle, he came out as gay at 18 and soon began a restless journey across Europe. He settled briefly in Barcelona, where he believes he became infected, and finally in Berlin, where he lived for almost 20 years.

When he learned he was HIV-positive in 1995, a friend told him gravely that he probably had two years to live. “I didn’t know who to be angry at,” Brown said.

Ten years later, he was alive and taking antiretroviral medications. Then, in 2006, a bout of exhaustion sent him to the doctor, who diagnosed leukaemia and proposed the customary treatment: Wipe out Brown’s immune system with radiation and rebuild it with the bone marrow of a healthy donor.

Here was the crucial trick: From the 230 possible matches found for Brown, Huetter deliberately picked a donor who carried genetic resistance to HIV, hoping they might lick both diseases in a single shot.

Now living in San Francisco, Brown has found himself a bit of a celebrity at AIDS functions around the city. Two weeks ago, he attended an event organised by the American Foundation for AIDS Research. After that, he says: “everybody wanted to get their picture taken with me.” It was as if, he said, he had become the living, breathing embodiment of hope for an end to AIDS.

For much of the AIDS pandemic’s first 30 years, talk of a cure was indeed a four-letter word, widely dismissed as fanciful and detracting from the real job of prevention and treatment.

But as Brown’s fame has grown, the ‘cure’ word has lost its taboo.

Brown sustained a brain injury in a 2009 mugging in Berlin, and walks and speaks with some difficulty But he sees himself as lucky and says he’s glad to be a ‘catalyst’ to the development of a more practical AIDS cure. “It’s an incredible feeling — like a miracle,” he said. “I had two lethal diseases and was able to get rid of both of them.”

 

[T-Faz]

As a student of science, the history of HIV and later AIDS has always been a fascinating one. Though it is believed to be Zoonosis, it was supposedly transfered onto humans through bushmeat in Africa and later travelled onto the western world through humans who carries the virus. At one time, the patient zero was thought to be a homosexual canadian flight attendant who averaged hundreds of sexual partners in a year. What this hypothesis failed to answer was that how it was able to spread so quickly amongst certain sections of the society in the late 70's and early 80's. As many homosexuals were victims of this virus which later transformed into a disease, it was initially called GRID (Gay Related Immuno Deficiency)

What I am more intrigued by is the fact that people had acquired HIV before it even existed in the Science world. There was a British sailor in the 40's who showed the symptoms of what later was described as HIV, similarly a young black kid from America called Robert R had developed the symptoms of HIV which baffled Doctors back then. Kaposi's Sarcoma is a common symptom and it effected these people in their lifetime before their death.

How can HIV exist back then when there was no knowledge of it and later it become a national crisis in America once it started to effect a lot of people.

I would love to find earlier cases of this disease and if there were any cures for it.

 

[Kyusuibu Honbu]

I would love to find earlier cases of this disease and if there were any cures for it.

I heavily doubt if there were any ,like any virus infection from common cold to polio etc,there is no cure for them.

Any cases if noted would have been probably mistaken for the diseases that affect a person whose immune system is gone, like tuberculosis or some other bacterial ones.

 

[T-Faz]

I heavily doubt if there were any ,like any virus infection from common cold to polio etc,there is no cure for them.

Any cases if noted would have been probably mistaken for the diseases that affect a person whose immune system is gone, like tuberculosis or some other bacterial ones.

There was a case where the patient was able to recover after his immune system had deteriorated.

Please read the following articles which were written in the 80's at the height of the HIV epidemic.

AEGiS-Chicago Tribune: How Long Has Virus Been Stalking Victims?

BOY'S 1969 DEATH SUGGESTS AIDS INVADED U.S. SEVERAL TIMES - NYTimes.com

Medicine: Strange Trip Back to the Future - TIME

http://www.bmj.com/content/315/7123/1689.fullhttp://www.bmj.com/content/315/7123/1689.full

 

[genmirajborgza786]

stem cell reserch needs to be encouraged it has the potential answer to many medical miracles

Toddler helps bring about a medical miracle in stem cell research
Posted on August 15, 2009 at 4:17 PM
Updated Monday, Oct 26 at 12:58 PM

HOUSTON -- Elena isn't your average little girl At 20 months, she's already battled stage III cancer, and a spinal cord injury has left her in a wheelchair. Now, she's getting ready to fight again. This time, it's for the chance to walk.

"She's paralyzed from the waist down, but from the waist up she's a tiger," said Juliet Porras, Elena's mom.

With the help of Dr. James Baumgartner, Dr. Charles Cox, Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital, UT Houston and , Porras is working to raise the money for her daughter to be part of a clinical trial that will take stem cells from Elena's bone marrow and introduce them into her spine.

"A few years ago, Dr. Cox and I started a stem cell trial to treat children with traumatic brain injury with stem cells from their own bone marrow," said Dr. Baumgartner, who works as a neurosurgeon at Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital. "Juliet and her husband came to us thinking they could use cord blood to treat her spinal cord injury, but because Elena was born with cancer, we were worried the cord blood could contain active tumor cells."& #160;

This meant the doctors had to go to Plan B, which was to treat her spinal cord with stem cells from her bone marrow. But because this would be the first time something like this would be done, they decided to do it as an actual clinical trial.

"But to do the trial, I needed to raise a large amount of money that we didn't have. Dr.Baumgartner put me in touch with TIRR Foundation to help us get the word out," said Porras.

TIRR Foundation is a Houston-based non-profit organization that promotes brain and spinal cord injury research at UT Houston, Baylor and UTMB. After hearing Porras' story, they agreed to help her raise the $300,000 she needed through various benefits, such as the last Saturday night.

The research Dr. Baumgartner and his colleague are conducting has nothing to do with embryonic stem cells. Instead, the stem cells are from the child's own bone marrow.

"We're going to harvest bone marrow from her hip with the help of a pediatric hematologist from MD Anderson while she's sedated at Memorial Hermann Hospital. We'll take it to the CAGT Lab, which is a joint venture between Texas Children's, Baylor and Methodist, over at the Clinical Care building at the Texas Children's Hospital to process.Then, we will take it back to Hermann," said Dr. Baumgartner.

Elena will then undergo a spinal tap, and the doctors will infuse the cells into her spinal fluid. The whole procedure will take less than a day, and if all goes well, she will be able to go home and sleep in her own bed that night. Dr. Baumgartner and Dr. Cox will monitor her neurological and physical progress over the next six months to see if the newly injected stem cells are making a difference.

There are a lot of institutions involved, but that is what makes the project so amazing.

The treatment, which has come to be known as The Baby Porras Project, doesn't just have the support of TIRR Foundation and its supporters. It could not be done without the help of a number of different medical organizations.

"The Baby Porras Project requires the cooperation from multiple medical institutions within the city. We have gotten nothing but support. It's been wonderful," said Dr. Baumgartner. "It's really spectacular how this all came together. If I didn't see it, I would not have believed it was possible."

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Elena will be the first child to go through the project, but the money Porras and TIRR Foundation are raising will allow 10 children with spinal cord injuries to go through the trial. The research will also help raise Houston's profile in stem cell research.

"My goal is get my daughter out of the wheelchair and walking," said Porras. "Her chances are better if this happens when she's young."

According to Baumgartner, one of the reasons the trial is so important is that traumatic injury is the number one cause of disability and death in children. He believes there is a great opportunity with stem cell intervention to repair and reverse of injuries that are happening in children.

TIRR Foundation is also working with another mom who has a toddler with Cerebral Palsy. Their daughter recently had a stroke, and Dr. Baumgartner is planning a similar clinical trial with this young girl. In this case, the girl's cord blood will be safe to use.

TIRR Foundation is committed to raising the $300,000 needed to get The Baby Porras Project going. The non-profit group also plans to help raise the money needed for the other child through various fundraisers and donations from the public.

If the money can be raised, Elena will undergo the surgery in the summer.

"I know Elena can do it. She's already beat stage III cancer. She had her first chemo treatment at two days old. She's already overcome so much and I know she's a fighter," said Porras.

Toddler helps bring about a medical miracle in stem cell research | khou.com Houston

 

[CardSharp]

What I am more intrigued by is the fact that people had acquired HIV before it even existed in the Science world. There was a British sailor in the 40's who showed the symptoms of what later was described as HIV, similarly a young black kid from America called Robert R had developed the symptoms of HIV which baffled Doctors back then. Kaposi's Sarcoma is a common symptom and it effected these people in their lifetime before their death.

Other diseases can manifest the same symptoms as HIV and without nucleic samples it is impossible to know for certain that they were indeed infected with HIV.

 

[T-Faz]

Other diseases can manifest the same symptoms as HIV and without nucleic samples it is impossible to know for certain that they were indeed infected with HIV.

The mentioned cases, their tissue samples were stored for future research and later it was confirmed that these people were indeed suffering from HIV or AIDS.

Take the case of Robert R, his tissue sample upon analysis confirmed that he had died of AIDS fifteen years before the disease came into spotlight.

Medicine: Strange Trip Back to the Future - TIME

All the markers used in this particular test gave a positive result, it was his blood sample that was used, a blot test for AIDS antibodies.

 

[CardSharp]

The mentioned cases, their tissue samples were stored for future research and later it was confirmed that these people were indeed suffering from HIV or AIDS.

Take the case of Robert R, his tissue sample upon analysis confirmed that he had died of AIDS fifteen years before the disease came into spotlight.

Medicine: Strange Trip Back to the Future - TIME

All the markers used in this particular test gave a positive result, it was his blood sample that was used, a blot test for AIDS antibodies.

So what are the possible origins of HIV if not the simian immunodeficiency virus theory?

 

[T-Faz]

So what are the possible origins of HIV if not the simian immunodeficiency virus theory?

That is a mystery, it was accredited to (SIV) Simian Immunodeficiency Virus initially but they found later that cases had existed before and they confirmed them with the samples they had stored.

Robert R's grandfather used to suffer from the same symptoms and he died in a similar manner, perhaps he passed his virus onto Robert.

From where his grandfather and other people like David Carr, Arvid Noe caught the virus is a mystery.

Arvin Noe used to visit prostitutes a lot in Africa so he could have acquired it there but who is patient zero then and how did they catch the virus.

The SIV theory is the most popular one because it explains the origin of it in an animal and the subsequent transfer but cases of HIV/AIDS had existed in regions where these animals don't exist.

Edit: Robert R's sexual partner never caught the disease from him even when they had sex while he was suffering from these symptoms and were later confirmed to be HIV.