British Scientists May Be Close to Finding a Cure for HIV

A 44 year-old man shows no sign of HIV after undergoing a new treatment.

He is the first of 50 participants to test a new treatment against HIV. The research is being carried out by five of Britain's top universities, with the support of the UK's National Heath Service.

The new therapy combines standard antiretroviral drugs with a drug that reactivates dormant HIV, and a vaccine that causes the immune system to destroy the infected cells.

Early tests show that the first patient has no trace of the virus in his blood. However, it's still too early to call this a cure.

In 2010, a newborn girl considered "cured" was no longer HIV-free when the virus resurfaced, two years later.

The only case of a cure is Timothy Ray Brown, an American man who was found free of cancer and HIV following a bone marrow transplant.