For the past few days word has been flying around the internet that a German physician, treating a 42 year old American in Berlin for leukemia, ‘accidentally’ cured him of HIV, of which the patient was also suffering. Come to find out that Dr. Gero Hütter didn’t necessarily cure him accidentally, it was more a theory he was putting to the test.

In need of a bone marrow transplant, Dr. Hütter chose specific marrow from a donor who carries the naturally occuring genetic mutation that renders cells immune to almost all strains of HIV, the virus that causes Aids. After a successful transplant, the patient appear to be recovering well and more importantly, appears to be free of HIV as well, even after over 600 days without antiretroviral medication.

More tests using this method will be conducted on HIV+ patients, but if they prove to be successful, this type of gene therapy will become much more accepted as a treatment for the HIV virus.