Tuesday, November 15, 2005
●● Miracle? ●●
Is Briton world's first to beat HIV?
LONDON — In what is being described as a medical miracle, a British man has claimed to be the first person in the world to get rid of the HIV virus — without any medication, newspaper reports said yesterday.
In a sensational development that could bring hope to millions dying of Aids, 25-year-old Andrew Stimpson has tested negative for the disease after having it for more than a year.
But doctors at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London, who carried out the initial tests on Mr Stimpson's blood, were more cautious, stopping short of saying he had been given the all-clear.
"I can confirm that he has a positive and a negative test," said a spokeswoman. "I can't confirm with you that he's been cured.
"We offered him further tests to help us investigate and find an explanation. So far he has declined to do so."
A spokeswoman for Aids charity the Terence Higgins Trust said: "Nobody has ever spontaneously cleared themselves of HIV. It's the statistical equivalent of going to the moon without a spaceship. HIV researchers will be jumping up and down about this."
Mr Stimpson, a sandwich maker, will offer his body for medical research to help doctors find a cure for HIV, which leads to Aids.
"I remember after the repeat tests my doctor came into the room saying, 'You've cured yourself! This is unbelievable, you're fantastic!'" he told the News of the World.
The Mail on Sunday reported that in two previous cases of "spontaneous clearance", it was impossible to prove that both the positive and negative tests came from the same person. Mr Stimpson was all the more surprised given that on hearing he had tested HIV positive, he gave up safe sex with his infected boyfriend, 44-year-old Juan Gomez.
On hearing of the negative tests, he considered sueing his hospital with this in mind over what he thought must have been bungled earlier tests.
The hospital launched an investigation and Mr Stimpson received a letter last month saying that DNA testing had confirmed it was his blood in all the samples.
"There had been no error in the labelling or testing of the samples", it added.
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It's so amazing that someone could actually fights off AIDS virus. Would that really be possible? I think this is going to bring so much hope to AIDS patients all over the world.
As a healthcare worker, I'm also eyeing on this particular finding and hoping for the best for the upcoming research on Mr Stimpson. Personally, I do not have any grudges or resentment towards AIDS patients. If they are under my care, they are my patients and I have to perform my duty of care to them. And I do have such patients before. They are in fact very nice people, with a sincere human touch, but they are very mis-understood by the world. So, let's pray that a cure for AIDS could be found. Rejoice!
But if a cure is found, would people go around having blatant unprotected sex with multiple sexual partners without worrying about the consequences? Afterall, even a cure is available. There are lots of moral dilemma but I'm sure we can sort these out eventually.
Meanwhile let's hope that Mr Stimpson wouldn't bring us false hopes, smashing us down at the peak of happiness. AIDS PATIENTS, DO YOUR BEST!!