The second person being cured of HIV publicly identifies

The second person who has been cured of HIV has revealed his identity and said he wants to be a "hopeful ambassador" to other people living with HIV.

Adam Castillejo, a patient called "London", was cured of HIV in 2019, 18 months after stopping antiviral therapy and bone marrow transplant to treat blood cancer.

Castillejo, 40, made his identity public on March 9 in an interview with the New York Times and revealed that he has lived with HIV since 2003.

In 2012, he was diagnosed with acute myeloid cell leukemia and later received a stem cell transplant. It is important that the medical team has chosen a stem cell donor with two mutant copies, meaning that his or her white blood cells are resistant to HIV, according to Guardian.

Adam Castillejo wants to be a hopeful ambassador for HIV patients.(Photo: New York Times).

Timothy Brown, an HIV-infected patient in Berlin and the first to be cured, underwent the same treatment. However, while Mr. Brown and Mr. Castillejo both received chemotherapy, only Mr. Brown received radiation therapy to treat cancer.

In 2019, this regimen will not only successfully treat cancer but also help Castillejo from HIV. But at that time, he chose to hide his identity.

"I watched TV and thought, 'OK, they're talking about me,'" he told the New York Times. "It is strange, very strange."

Now Mr. Castillejo has decided to reveal his identity because he wants other patients to feel more optimistic."This is a unique position . I want to be an ambassador that offers hope."

Most people with HIV are unsuitable for stem cell transplantation because they involve a dangerous method that carries many risks.

Professor Ravindra Gupta, the first author of this new study from the University of Cambridge, said Castillejo's case is very important: "This is the second case to be cured by this method. It means that The first is not an anomalous case. "

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