July 20, 2015 - BBC
By Jane Dreaper
An 18-year-old French woman is in remission from HIV - despite not having taken any drugs against the virus for 12 years.
Doctors have presented the details of her case at an International Aids Society (IAS) conference in Vancouver.
It is the world's first report of long-term remission from HIV in a child.
Experts say big studies are needed to determine why some patients can continue to control the virus after stopping treatment.
The woman was born in 1996, and was passed HIV by her mother - either towards the end of the pregnancy or during childbirth.
Aged three months, she was given four anti-retroviral drugs.
But her family decided to stop the treatment when she was almost six years old.
Twelve years later, the virus levels in her bloodstream are too low to be measured - although doctors have cautioned that this could change. Continue reading...