Andrew Stimpson: Science Hero

Rolfe said:
You mean, becoming suicidally depressed cured the guy? What an astonishing insight!

Rolfe.
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Pls reread, I edited. Concentrate on yjay healing agent's mentionings. I shall study AIDS deeply now.

Do have any idea about fiery red(not red or deep red) tongue & lips, sometimes firey lines on tongue with yello base?
 
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HIV integrates into DNA, currently we have no way of reversing this. So if he was infected then a PCR test will confirm this. If he is PCR negative then I would say he was never infected.

It's paradoxical that he wishes to help science but not be tested further.
 
He didn't say he didn't want to be tested. He indicated that he hadn't had time to respond to the hospital's request. In fact the time-span seemed to be long enough, but maybe he wasn't feeling any great sense of urgency.

Nobody specified what sort of tests had been done exactly, but from the confidence with which the story was announced, I would surmise that they did go back and get a PCR positive from the first sample and a negative from the second, together with incontrovertible evidence that both samples were from the same individual.

Rolfe.
 
I don't think they did do PCR tests; these aren't generally used for HIV tests, are maybe too expensive for the NHS and not normally required anyway. But perhaps this will come out with further enquiry.
 
There's a lot more to be found out about this for sure. However, the report was so confident I think it implies that the testing of these sample was taken to the limit to ensure the results were correct.

Rolfe.
 
I read a Lancet (I think) article several years ago. Apparantly some people are immune to HIV. They had investigated some prostitutes in Africa, who were practicing in a heavily HIV infested area, but unlike most of their collegueas were not HIV positive. They had repeatedly been infected with other kinds of STD, but apparantly were able to resist HIV infection.

While very interesting, I don't think this is entirely surprising. HIV interacts with the human immune system. There is no reason to think it must always win. And obviously, there could be tons of cases out there that were never discovered.

Hans
 
MRC_Hans said:
I read a Lancet (I think) article several years ago. Apparantly some people are immune to HIV. They had investigated some prostitutes in Africa, who were practicing in a heavily HIV infested area, but unlike most of their collegueas were not HIV positive. They had repeatedly been infected with other kinds of STD, but apparantly were able to resist HIV infection.

While very interesting, I don't think this is entirely surprising. HIV interacts with the human immune system. There is no reason to think it must always win. And obviously, there could be tons of cases out there that were never discovered.

Hans
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Unfortunately, when these sex workers "retired" they got AIDS. It seems regular exposure to HIV and having a specific CTL response was able to protect them or maintain their seronegativity.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...d&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=11595284&query_hl=1

There is also delta 32 CCR5 mutation in about 10% of Europeans able to resist HIV infection.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...d&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=16216086&query_hl=5
 
The Grauniad article mentions antibody tests, specifically

"You have recovered from a positive antibody result to a negative result."

"Tests usually indicate antibodies rather than the virus. They are usually accurate but one of the number of tests he has undergone may have been wrong. In any event a test for the virus itself is more conclusive."

I don't think he had the conclusive PCR test.
 
Capsid said:
Unfortunately, when these sex workers "retired" they got AIDS. It seems regular exposure to HIV and having a specific CTL response was able to protect them or maintain their seronegativity.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=11595284&query_hl=1

There is also delta 32 CCR5 mutation in about 10% of Europeans able to resist HIV infection.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=16216086&query_hl=5
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Ahh, thanks for the update. Interesting (but sad) twist.

Hans
 
Mojo said:
Story in Grauniad: Mysterious case of the man who claims to have beaten HIV by taking vitamins. Hmm.
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Not quite as bad as it looks (all subsequent quotes from the linked Guardian article)...

Health experts, Aids campaigners and gay rights activists urged Andrew Stimpson to come forward following claims that he has been able to rid his body of the virus after taking little more than vitamins.
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They're not claiming vitamins are a cure.

A spokeswoman said: "I can confirm that he has a positive and a negative test. I can't confirm that he's shaken it off, that he's been cured".
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Good on the paper for keeping its feet on the ground.

[Campaigners] also sounded a note of caution, noting that disclosures in his case arose not from medical research or peer review but from legal correspondence relating to an action Mr Stimpson was pursuing against the health trust.
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This one has a way to go before we can do more than cross our fingers and hope for a potentially-useful research avenue, but to its credit, the Grauniad isn't pretending otherwise.

And this doesn't inspire me with a huge amount of confidence in Stimpson:

Annabel Kanabus, director of the Aids charity, Avert, said the sequence of events is troubling. "He was told in October that he would not be paid by the trust so he goes to the newspapers. I think he should have gone straight to his doctors."
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Just catching up on all this news.....

As Capsid has stated, HIV is RNA which is integrated into host cell DNA, and can lie dormant in these cells almost indefinitely. With activation, new virus can be transcribed.
Host immune mechanisms have been found to have a major role in controlling the level of ongoing infection. In some fortuitous cases CTL responses are sufficient to keep HIV dormant and therefore these individuals do not have levels of viral replication sufficient to cause progressive immune damage - these patients are termed "long term non-progressors". However, using techniques like PCR to find sequences of RNA/DNA will show virus is still present, albeit at lowere levels than usual, and antibody tests for simple protein antibodies directed against viral constituents will remain positive.
There is a small chance that virus could be eradicated from a host if there is a sufficiently active host immune response, but remember that where the virus is dormant/latent within a cell, that cell will not express the usual markers of being infected with virus that will tell the immune system "Hey chaps, I'm over here!" and enable that particular cell to be targetted for destruction.

I am sceptical this chap has spontaneously cleared all HIV. He may be HIV antibody negative, but I want to know whether HIV can be detected in blood by PCR, and more relevant, in reservoirs where HIV-infected cells are known to be less able to be attacked by the host (eg lymph nodes, prostate, brain etc).

There is the previous example of hepatitis B to turn to - in the past, we used to say that someone who has recovered from Hep B and was negative by all the usual markers for any persisting Hep B had "eradicated" the virus and it was gone forever. But we know that is not true, and small reservoirs of virus persist in the liver, and have been known to reactivate later in life if circumstances alter which favour this result.
 
Deetee said:
I am sceptical this chap has spontaneously cleared all HIV. He may be HIV antibody negative, but I want to know whether HIV can be detected in blood by PCR, and more relevant, in reservoirs where HIV-infected cells are known to be less able to be attacked by the host (eg lymph nodes, prostate, brain etc).

There is the previous example of hepatitis B to turn to - in the past, we used to say that someone who has recovered from Hep B and was negative by all the usual markers for any persisting Hep B had "eradicated" the virus and it was gone forever. But we know that is not true, and small reservoirs of virus persist in the liver, and have been known to reactivate later in life if circumstances alter which favour this result.
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Although even that represents a substantial increase over an active, raging case of Hep B (or HIV), yes? I'd like to submit that if we can figure out how to duplicate this gentleman's medical feat and make every case of HIV vanish into small, mostly-inactive reservoirs that simply require monitoring to see if they reactivate....

... well, I'd like to call that a medical breakthrough. I'd like to propose the doctor who figures out how to make that happen for a Nobel prize. But then, I'm ignorant and naive.
 
Granted - that would represent significant progress.
If there is an immunological basis for the HIV "disappearance" then I am sure the chaps will incorporate this into vaccine research.
 
One small detail was left out. He was only cured after ordering crystals from me. Yes, my crystals are the best and I'll send you an Aids-curing crystal, modeled after the one that cured Andy, for just $1 million dollars. I'll even sell one to any skeptic who cares to study it for the same price.

If I run the above ad, does anyone think I'll get a response before Andrew can comment on my claim?
 
The original blood test was his:
When Stimpson tested negative in 2003, the hospital where the original tests were done ran DNA tests on the original 2002 blood samples to make sure there was no mix-up in the patient's identity.
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http://www.cbc.ca/storyview/MSN/world/national/2005/11/14/aids-cure-051114.html

Apparently he is willing to cooperate with scientists now:
He had refused to undergo any tests, and came forward Sunday with his story on the urging of doctors who believe his case holds out hope for millions around the world with HIV/AIDS.

He has now agreed to allow researchers to try to find out how he managed to allegedly beat the disease.
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CBL
 
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