Fifth person in the world cured of HIV: here's his story

The fifth person who went into remission from HIV shared his story for the first time. It's in the story ABC News.

Photo: IStock

“I'm really happy to be able to tell my story,” says Paul Edmunds.

Paul's story began after he came out. The boy from a small town in Georgia soon moved to San Francisco (California).

«It was very exciting. I have never experienced anything like this,” Paul shared his impressions of the move.

But by the early 1980s, a black cloud hung over the LGBT community.

“People called it gay cancer. It was scary. Nobody really knew what was going on,” he recalls.

On the subject: In the US, they were able to cure a patient with HIV using stem cells with a rare mutation

Gays across America were dying from thousands of AIDS-related illnesses. Fear and stigma became palpable.

“In the beginning it was like a curse. People were afraid of each other. I was not ready for testing, because I felt that this would mean death, ”the guy admitted.

And in 1988, he finally took an HIV test and got a positive result.

But the clouds cleared up a bit in 1992 when Paul fell in love with aviator Arnie House.

“We met in San Francisco. Paul came in and I saw him. I immediately knew that I had to talk to him, so I went up to him and whispered: “I want to know you, Paul,” Arnie recalls.

Paul convinced him to get tested too, and Arnie also tested positive for HIV.

But more effective antiretroviral drugs have reduced both HIV levels to inconspicuous levels, corresponding to non-infectious levels. They got married, but another diagnosis was looming.

In 2018, Paul learned that he had leukemia. At that time he had lived with HIV for thirty years.

“My heart skipped a beat. But I wasn't ready to die," Paul said.

After chemotherapy, he was offered a bone marrow transplant as a permanent cure for leukemia, plus a possible added bonus.

His bone marrow donor will be resistant to HIV infection. A rare mutation that could have put Paul in HIV remission.

“This is a very rare mutation. It exists in about one percent of the population. So it's not something that we find very often," explained infectious disease specialist Dr. Dana Dikter.

Chemotherapy for a transplant is debilitating, the result is impressive. Leukemia remained in remission.

“It was the best news I have ever heard,” Paul admitted.

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Thus, he became the fifth person in history who went into remission of HIV.

“Now, four years after the transplant, two years after stopping his HIV medication, we can't find evidence of HIV replication in his body,” Dikter says.

“I was incredibly grateful to be alive. Very, very grateful to the donor,” notes Paul.

Now he feels great.

What does this mean for the future? Doctors are incredibly careful when using the words “treatment and AIDS,” and yet they understand that five years of remission is something. In this case, the doctors are saying that we have more practical ways to get to an HIV-free world, which is to get tested, because when you get tested, it's easily controlled and not transmitted.

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