The man who was cured of HIV

last updated 8 January 2015

Timothy Brown can actually say he was cured of AIDS, said Tina Rosenberg in New York. When Brown, 45, was diagnosed as HIV-positive, in 1995, his former partner told him, “You’ve probably only got two years to live.” But in the nick of time, the development of anti-retroviral therapies extended his life.

Ten years later, he again began to feel weak. Tests revealed that he had leukemia. Devastated, he began seeing a cancer doctor named Gero Hütter, who had a bold idea. Hütter knew that only a bone marrow transplant would cure the leukemia; what if he could find a donor with the rare genetic mutation called delta 32, which makes a person practically immune to HIV? Such a donor was found, and after two transplants, Brown’s leukemia and HIV infection both disappeared.

The treatment is impractical on a grand scale, but Brown’s case has revived hopes for a cure. “It’s an incredible feeling—like a miracle,” says Brown. “I had two lethal diseases and was able to get rid of both of them.”