Federal officials announced Thursday that a nearly 4-year-old Mississippi girl, thought to have been cured of HIV, has detectable levels of the virus.
Te infant, born prematurely to an HIV-infected mom who had sought no treatment for her baby pre-birth, had been given an exceptionally aggressive course of anti-HIV drugs over her first 18 months of life, according to a Reuters report.
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said that the news put HIV research into perspective:
"Certainly, this is a disappointing turn of events for this young child, the medical staff involved in the child's care, and the HIV/AIDS research community. Scientifically, this development reminds us that we still have much more to learn about the intricacies of HIV infection and where the virus hides in the body."
The development "reminds us that we still have much more to learn about the intricacies of HIV infection and where the virus hides in the body," Fauci said in a statement. "The NIH remains committed to moving forward with research on a cure for HIV infection."
Many doctors were pleased with the girl's case as the first cure of HIV in a child last year, but many were also in doubt as to whether it would be permanent.
"Ever since we discovered this case in 2012, we knew this could happen," said Hannah Gay, a pediatric HIV specialist at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson who treated the child.
Even so, the girl's relapse felt like a "punch in the gut," Gay says.
