Man believed cured of AIDS says he'll stay that way

Theman who stopped showing signs of HIV after being given a bone marrow transplant for stem cells says he's still cured.

Timothy Ray Brown,also known as the "Berlin Patient," made international and national headlines when it was discovered he was apparently cured of the AIDS virus as a result ofthe transplant he underwent for the treatment of leukemia.

Speaking ata news conference on the sidelines of the 19th International AIDS Conference in Washington on Tuesday, Brown said doctors have told him he's "cured of AIDS and will remain cured."

TheAmericanhad the transplant in February 2007 whilea student in Berlin. A year later, his leukemia returned but HIV did not. He had a second transplant in March 2008 from the same donor.

Researchers in California recently found traces of HIV in Brown's tissue, but he said the virus itself is dead and can't replicate. He has debilitating side-effects and scientists continue to test him to try to understand how the treatment worked.

Brown accepts his reputation among the AIDS community as a miracle man with mixed feelings.

"I have a slight sense of guilt, particularly when friends tell me, 'I would like to be cured, too,'" Brown said. "That's hard. Basically that's the reason why I'm fighting for a cure for HIV," he added in announcing a new foundation to fight to cure AIDS.

Preventing false hope

The bone marrow donor had a genetic mutation that provides natural resistance to HIV.An estimatedone per cent ofCaucasians have the mutation. Brown'soncologist, Dr. Gero Huetter, a blood cancer expert at the University of Berlin,searchedfor such a person who also was a tissue match.

It's unlikely Brown's experience is transferrable to other patients, cautionedDr. Mark Wainberg, director of the McGill University AIDS Centre in Montreal.

"What we don't want to do obviously is give anybody false hope," Wainberg said. "So to speak of a curenext year, or two years or even five years is probably completely unrealistic."

Efforts to replicate theunique treatment have failed. All the other patients died.

Despite that, Wainberg called Brown a symbol of hope to inspire researchers working towards a cure.