MISSISSIPPI: Baby Thought To Be "Cured" Of HIV Suffers Relapse

Another setback:

A Mississippi baby scientists thought was "functionally cured" of HIV now has detectable levels of the virus in her blood, her doctors say. The news is disappointing for a case the scientific community hailed just last year as a potential game changer in the fight against AIDS. "It felt like a punch to the gut," Dr. Hannah Gay, a pediatric HIV specialist at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, said of seeing signs of the virus on test results earlier this month. "It was extremely disappointing from both the scientific standpoint ... but mainly for the sake of the child who is back on medicine and expected to stay on medicine for a very long time." During a routine doctor visit early this month, tests detected HIV antibodies in the now 4-year-old child. Her T-cell count was also low, indicating a weakened immune system. More than two years after being taken off the medication, doctors started her again on antiretroviral therapy. She will need to be on these medications for life -- or until scientists find a cure for HIV.