British man 'recovered from HIV'

[koites]

Just a matter of interest. Those who are not interested, don't read or minus my points.

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British man 'recovered from HIV'

Andrew Stimpson said he was one of the luckiest people alive
Doctors are planning further tests on a British man whose body has reportedly cured itself of HIV.
Two Sunday newspapers report that Andrew Stimpson, 25 and from London, was diagnosed as HIV-positive in 2002 but found to be clear in October 2003.

Chelsea and Westminster Healthcare NHS Trust, which carried out the tests, has asked him to undergo more. Mr Stimpson did not take any medication for HIV.

HIV experts say his case could help to reveal more about the disease.

I think I'm one of the luckiest people alive

Andrew Stimpson

There have been anecdotal accounts before from Africa of people shaking off the HIV virus, but the evidence in this case, as reported in the News of the World and the Mail on Sunday, appears to be conclusive, BBC health correspondent Adam Brimelow said.

Mr Stimpson said: "There are 34.9 million people with HIV globally and I am just one person who managed to control it, to survive from it and to get rid of it from my body.

"For me that is unbelievable - it is a miracle. I think I'm one of the luckiest people alive."

Mr Stimpson told the newspapers that he became depressed and suicidal after being told he was HIV-positive but remained well and did not require medication.

Further tests

Some 14 months later he was offered another test by doctors, which came back negative.

He sought compensation but has apparently been told there is no case to answer because there was no fault with the testing procedure.

Chelsea and Westminster Healthcare Trust have asked to conduct more tests on Mr Stimpson both for his benefit and for other patients.

He has told the papers he would do anything he could to help find a cure.

Aids expert Dr Patrick Dixon, from international Aids group Acet, said the case was "very, very unusual".

Vaccine clue

"I've come across many anecdotal reports of this kind of thing happening in Africa, some quite recently, but it's difficult to verify them," he told BBC News 24.

"You have to be rock-solid sure that both samples came from the same person, no mix-up in the laboratory, no mistakes in the testing, etc.

"This is the first well-documented case."

He said the case was important because "inside his immune system is perhaps a key that could allow us to develop some kind of vaccine".

Extracted from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4432564.stm

[diesel]

Ang moh gau like to make big news headline. It is very hard to believe that he recovered from this illness.

[KL_boy]

Hmm..COuld it be, the first test he had was false-positive?
I wonder if he had another test to confirm his 'positive' result.

Anyway..Theoratically, if he is cured or rid of the HIV virus, he can be a very valuable vaccine test subject. Btw, can u pls post the original link for this document? THanks! :)

[koites]

Hmm..COuld it be, the first test he had was false-positive?
I wonder if he had another test to confirm his 'positive' result.

Anyway..Theoratically, if he is cured or rid of the HIV virus, he can be a very valuable vaccine test subject. Btw, can u pls post the original link for this document? THanks! :)

Well, it's possible. But for the sake of millions of lives, I hope that this is a real case man. What drew my attention in the article are the following parts

"He sought compensation but has apparently been told there is no case to answer because there was no fault with the testing procedure.

Aids expert Dr Patrick Dixon, from international Aids group Acet, said the case was "very, very unusual". "

I really hope it's not a false result in the first place.

The link is over here http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4432564.stm

[chenggh]

Yes, saw the new on tcs 8 tonite
Hopefully, this man can help us to come up a cure for HIV in the future....

[spermmann2003]

He just became a test subject but still better than dying. Someone out there is trying to kill us, so when HIV is cured, some hiong sexual disease will evolve.

Lets stop this person by using condoms. Dont let him get us

[KL_boy]

Yeah..Just woke up and read the news on the Star just now.

But it was stated too that it was difficult to confirm if the both samples were from him.

ANyway, it will be good if the people over there can study him. He could hold the key to the HIV vaccine.

THanks for the link. FOr once..THis is a good read.

[Shaun_G]

Reading this early in the morning really made my day. Think of the millions of ppl that can be saved if the vaccine can be found :p plus no need to worry abt HIV anymore. hahha. more bonking!

[dt3305]

Sounds like great news...I bet WHO will soon send a team down and 'tear' the guy apart to find out what he has that others don't have...be sure his DNA will be studied very closely...hopefully end of the day, they can unlock the mystery and program our immune system to destroy the HIV virus...don't think this is a hoax...as the hospital are reputatable and their test are reliable...moreover the guy was tested positive a year back and a year later he was tested negative...

[diesel]

Let me share with others from what I did a research in National University Library just now.

Quoted from Healthy Times Digest
Tongkat Ali offers anti-cancer, anti-HIV hope

The Forest Research Institute Malaysia has joined forces with Massachusettes Institute of Technology to research the effectiveness of Tongkat Ali or Eurycoma Longfolia against cancer and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the precursor to AIDS.

Early results show some chemical constituents of Tongkat Ali plant demonstrate high anti-cancer and anti-HIV activity.

FRIM director-general abdul Razak Mohamad Ali said the initial laboratory work had shown the pant's chemical constituents could be more effective than existing anti-cancer drugs.

[Frankiestine]

Many years back it was reported that some descendants of the survivors of the Black Plague has natural immunity against AIDS.

[tk-king]

Great News for HIV positive pple and of cos those hardcore rawer

hope the doc can do a great job by finding the vaccine from his body

all the best

[siamcutey]

Since he is "invincible", will doctors inject him with the HIV virus again?:D

hehehe
SC

[pakchik69]

Many years back it was reported that some descendants of the survivors of the Black Plague has natural immunity against AIDS.

I remember watching a documentary some years ago about some people having immunity against the virus. Believe it was in a small town in Italy or spain. Till now, still no news on how to harness their 'gifts' for hiv sufferers.

[Frankiestine]

I remember watching a documentary some years ago about some people having immunity against the virus. Believe it was in a small town in Italy or spain. Till now, still no news on how to harness their 'gifts' for hiv sufferers.
i also read in the papers years back of this brit who is a gay, who also does not seems to be suffering from any effect of his gay lifestyle....

[xen0n]

Yeah. Did read this article from ST. Was thinking along these lines:

1) His 1st checkup was flawed.
2) He DID recovered from HIV +ve to HIV -ve.

Anyway, he has agreed to allow research to be done on him so as to help others. So that isn't so bad if (2) was true. :cool:

[excm69]

Think of the millions of ppl that can be saved if the vaccine can be found :p plus no need to worry abt HIV anymore. hahha. more bonking!

Yah, if true can say bye bye to HIV, but hoh there are still other STDs to worry about!!:eek:

Be safe, always use condoms for commercial sex, ONS....

[smlee]

Since he is "invincible", will doctors inject him with the HIV virus again?:D

hehehe
SC

good one:D
moreover he is British who is notorious for bullshitting

[JPimp]

Disagree on the brits being bullshiters....though I am skeptical on a cure for HIV...I mean scientist have been looking at the cure for cancer for ages to no avail

[FL_Noob]

Prevention is still better than cure.

[Aviator]

Saw the taiwanese news yesterday apparently there was also another baby born with Hiv but2-3 years down the road, he was completely cured as well. maybe the cure is lock within us??:eek:

[smlee]

Disagree on the brits being bullshiters....though I am skeptical on a cure for HIV...I mean scientist have been looking at the cure for cancer for ages to no avail

you are a brits :D just joking

[dt3305]

I strongly believed a cure for HIV will be found soon. Either a vaccine or anti-biotic to destroy the HIV virus. These 2 recent case is interesting read and I want to believe. Some how I think our human body is a fantastic creation. In times to come, our body will develop a response to whatever new virus there is. HIV has been around for ages and so has our body DNA which continues to evolve. One day it will defeat the virus. Until then, bonk safe, always with condom and good quality condom at that. Do not mix alcohol with sex...it is a dangerous cocktail...you tend to do things you normally would not do...

[ksd07]

If you do a search on google, regarding prostitues in Nairobi and Kenya who had unprotected sex with HIV infected clients and subsequently got the HIv virus,

they continued their prostitution and a few months later the virus was completely gone.

Now some of them stopped prostitution after finding out they were free from the virus and a few months later , the virus came back to them again.

So the Key issue now with this Gay man HIV case is this,

Can he still be clear of HIV provided he does not continue his lifestyle with his infected Gay partner, thus preventing continual exposure to the virus.

If he can, then there is a high hope for a cure.

This is because some scientists believe that once a person is infected with HIV, he might have to continue exposing himself to the virus in order to allow the body to develop a resistence.

[F2828]

We do not know whether is it true or not until this guy comes out and let the authority do a detailed check-up. Let's wait for further news before any conclusion.

[FL_Noob]

Lets hope the cure comes out as soon as possible so that everyone on this planet don't have to worry about losing their lifes to sex.

[ksd07]

We do not know whether is it true or not until this guy comes out and let the authority do a detailed check-up. Let's wait for further news before any conclusion.


I was not drawing any conclusion, merely stating a possible scenario.

[ragemachinez]

Hi all,

First off, this man may have produced antibodies that actually managed to destroy the virus. When HIV enters the human body, antibodies are made against the virus but for some reason they don't work. While these antibodies help us test for the virus itself, it is of little use against the virus. What could have happened is, this guy was lucky enough that the antibodies made was somehow the "correct" one which killed the virus.

Now it holds hope in the sense that scientists could do some research to now find out how to make our bodies produce the "killing" antibody. But it's not as simple as just taking this guy's antibodies and growing them and injecting them into other people. Our bodies will recognise those antibodies injected as "foreign" and may produce antibodies against the injected antibodies, making it useless. Follow so far?

So it is not really an opportunity to produce vaccines or cures. This guy may lock the secret door to the correct antibody production or he may just be a very lucky guy (more likely). Chances are we do not have his antibody producing gene.