Briton who "recovered" from HIV was probably never infected, 15th November 2005
It now seems likely that Andrew Stimpson, the British man who reportedly "cured" himself of HIV, was never infected in the first place.
Mr Stimpson tested positive for HIV antibodies in August 2002, but a series of later tests proved negative. It now appears that the first results were not the result of an underlying HIV infection, but were rather very unusual examples of a "false positive" reaction to the antibody test.
On Monday night a spokesperson for the Chelsea and Westminster NHS Trust told BBC Newsnight that, "It is probable that there was never any evidence of Mr Stimpson having the HIV virus but rather that there was transient evidence of an antibody response to the virus present in his bloodstream when he had the initial tests... The antibody testing is exquisitely sensitive and the smallest measure can be recorded which is probably what happened in this case.”
HIV expert Professor Jonathan Weber also believes the case might be explained by a rare false positive result. Nature.com has quoted the scientist saying that the most likely scenario based on the current evidence is "either a false positive [in 2002], or he's still infected". If the latter is true then DNA testing should reveal HIV genes in Mr Stimpson's body.
"The key thing … to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he was infected is more investigation of those very early tests, the three that showed positive,” Professor Weber told the BBC.
And scientists have emphasised that much more evidence would be needed to support any claim of a cure. "This is too early too fast," said Professor Simon Wain-Hobson. "The burden of proof is monumental".
As Professor Weber pointed out, “the last 45 million people who got infected by HIV didn’t clear the virus”.
Diagnosis of infection using antibody testing is one of the best-established concepts in medicine. The World Health Organisation and the US National Institutes of Health agree that modern HIV tests are extremely reliable, and are even more accurate than most other infectious disease tests.
No diagnostic test is perfect, but it is extremely rare for someone to have a false positive result in HIV antibody testing. There is nothing to suggest that this case is anything more than a freakish one-off.
On Tuesday morning, a spokeswoman for the Chelsea and Westminster NHS Trust told AVERT.org that they hoped Mr Stimpson would contact them soon regarding further tests.
AVERT.org has
more about the Andrew Stimpson case and possible implications for HIV medicine.
(BBC Newsnight, 14/11/05 and
Nature.com, 14/11/05)
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