Since 2017, UK researchers have identified a group of 32 ‘elite controllers’ – rare individuals who are living with HIV and are able to maintain undetectable viral load without taking antiretroviral therapy (ART) – and they expect to find more controllers over time. They have also been able to reassure another ten individuals who had ambiguous HIV test results that they don’t have HIV after all.
The IDRIS (Indeterminate Retrovirus Infection Service) collaboration is a referral service based at Imperial College London that has two aims. The first is to confirm or rule out HIV infection in people with no detectable viral load off therapy and who may also have ambiguous HIV antibody test results. The second is to study how these ‘elite controllers’ manage to keep their HIV suppressed without having to take treatment. This is in the hope that scientists can replicate this feat in others and even achieve a functional cure – one that does not necessarily eliminate all HIV from the body but keeps it permanently suppressed.
Read the full story at Aidsmap.
Source : Aidsmap
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