A woman of mixed race has been cured of HIV in the United States, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.
She is believed to be the third person ever to be cured of the disease.
According to scientists, she was cured using a new transplant method involving umbilical cord blood that opens up the possibility of curing more people of diverse racial backgounds than was previously possible.
Cord blood is more widely available than the adult stem cells typically used in bone marrow transplants, and does not need to be matched as closely to the recipient, the Times reported.
“The fact that she’s mixed race, and that she’s a woman, that is really important scientifically and really important in terms of the community impact,” said Dr. Steven Deeks, an AIDS expert at the University of California, San Francisco who was not involved in the work.
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