The Baby Born HIV Positive That We Thought Was Cured Appears to Still Be Infected

Do you remember the story we brought you about the baby born in Mississippi HIV positive that appeared to be AIDS free? Well, there has been a set back. Sadly she has been diagnosed as having HIV and is infected with the virus after all, health officials say.

Doctors discovered that the mother was HIV positive at the time of the babies birth in 2012 and to stop the baby's infection, they tried an aggressive combination of drugs right after she was born hoping it would eliminate the spread.

NPR tells us:

When the two showed up again, five months later, the mother said she had long since stopped giving the baby medicine. But blood tests showed no signs of HIV infection.

Optimism soon disappeared.

But blood tests showed that the baby had an active HIV infection. The virus had emerged from some mysterious hiding place in her body.

Doctors are hopeful that one day they'll be able to treat HIV positive babies with a powerful combination of drugs at birth and, if they show no signs of infection, take them off the drugs altogether. This could lead to children then being HIV negative at the age of 2. Let's hope so.

[NPR]