--- title: A Second Person May Have Just Been Cured of HIV description: The man, who had a bone marrow transplant in 2016 and stopped taking antiretroviral drugs 18 months ago, shows no signs of the infection canonical: https://time.com/5543593/hiv-cure-london-patient/ author: Amy Gunia article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-03-05T03:37:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T00:38:57.000Z article:section: Health og:title: A Second Person May Have Just Been Cured of HIV og:description: The man shows no signs of infection after receiving a bone marrow transplant. og:url: https://time.com/5543593/hiv-cure-london-patient/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a8ed9b079a40a28/698946398fd2ee74c435de4f/hiv-virions.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 680 og:image:alt: HIV-1 Virions og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Second Person May Have Just Been Cured of HIV twitter:description: The man shows no signs of infection after receiving a bone marrow transplant. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a8ed9b079a40a28/698946398fd2ee74c435de4f/hiv-virions.jpg?branch=production ---  # 'London Patient' Appears to Become the Second Person Ever Cured of HIV by [Amy Gunia](https://time.com/author/amy-gunia/) ## Amy Gunia Gunia was a reporter for TIME based in Hong Kong. Updated: Dec 13, 2023 12:38 AM UTCPublished: Mar 5, 2019 3:37 AM UTC  Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of HIV-1 virions as green round bumps budding from the surface of a cultured lymphocyte cell, 1985. Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of HIV-1 virions as green round bumps budding from the surface of a cultured lymphocyte cell, 1985.Smith Collection/Gado—Getty Images by [Amy Gunia](https://time.com/author/amy-gunia/) ## Amy Gunia Gunia was a reporter for TIME based in Hong Kong. Updated: Dec 13, 2023 12:38 AM UTCPublished: Mar 5, 2019 3:37 AM UTC Doctors say a British man who previously tested positive for HIV might be the second person ever to be [cured of the virus that causes AIDS](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-aids-cure/london-hiv-patient-becomes-worlds-second-aids-cure-hope-idUSKCN1QL2C0). Reuters reports that the man, whose identity has not been revealed, has tested negative for the virus almost three years after he received a bone marrow transplant from a donor with an HIV-resistant genetic mutation. The man stopped taking antiretroviral drugs 18 months ago. “There is no virus there that we can measure. We can’t detect anything,” Ravindra Gupta, the doctor who co-lead the man’s treatment team, told Reuters. The man, who has been dubbed the “London patient,” is the second person to receive the treatment. Timothy Ray Brown, an American man then living in Germany and widely known as the “[Berlin patient](http://time.com/5190960/no-cure-hiv-but-scientists-getting-closer/),” underwent a similar procedure in 2007 and is reportedly still HIV-free. Gupta said the London patient was “functionally cured” and is in remission, but said it was too early to officially say he is cured. After being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a rare blood cancer, the London patient received a bone marrow transplant in 2016\. His donor had a genetic mutation called CCR5 delta 2, which is resistant to HIV infection. The man suffered from post-procedure complications whereby the donor’s immune cells attacked his own. Given that Brown had the same side effects from his surgery, doctors are still trying to determine the exact cause of the disease’s elimination. According to Reuters, experts say that it may not be possible to widely adopt the procedure given its complexity and the difficulty of finding donor matches who have the HIV-resistant genetic mutation. Advancements in [antiretroviral drugs](http://time.com/4773541/hiv-aids-drugs-life-expectancy/) have greatly increased the life expectancy of people diagnosed with HIV in recent years. Approximately 37 million people are currently infected with HIV globally, and more than 35 million people have [died from AIDS ](http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/fact-sheet)or related illnesses. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5543593/hiv-cure-london-patient/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5543593/hiv-cure-london-patient/"},"headline":"'London Patient' Appears to Become the Second Person Ever Cured of HIV","datePublished":"2019-03-05T03:37:43.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T00:38:57.000Z","description":"The man, who had a bone marrow transplant in 2016 and stopped taking antiretroviral drugs 18 months ago, shows no signs of the infection","url":"https://time.com/5543593/hiv-cure-london-patient/","keywords":["health","HIV/AIDS","onetime","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a8ed9b079a40a28/698946398fd2ee74c435de4f/hiv-virions.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Amy Gunia","jobTitle":"Gunia was a reporter for TIME based in Hong Kong.","url":"https://time.com/author/amy-gunia/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a8ed9b079a40a28/698946398fd2ee74c435de4f/hiv-virions.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"HIV-1 Virions","caption":"HIV-1 Virions","creditText":"Smith Collection/Gado—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5543593/hiv-cure-london-patient/","name":"'London Patient' Appears to Become the Second Person Ever Cured of HIV"}}]}] ```