Second person cured of HIV is still free of active virus two years on
(CNN) — The second person ever to be cured of HIV is still free of active virus more than two years on, a study published by medical journal The Lancet HIV revealed on Tuesday.
Two and a half years ago, Adam Castillejo — previously identified as the “London patient” — finished HIV antiretroviral therapy.
He underwent a stem cell transplant to treat lymphoma and his donor carried a mutation known as CCR5-delta 32, which made him resistant to HIV.
Researchers said that in treating his lymphoma, they believe Castillejo, now 41, was cured of HIV.
HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a life-long viral infection that attacks the body’s immune system and can have significant health consequences. There is no widely available cure, however, the virus is treatable with a combination of drugs known as antiretroviral therapy that reduces the amount of virus in a person’s blood and it is preventable by using PrEP, which was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2012.
According to UNAids there were 37.9 million people globally living with HIV in 2018.
“Our findings show that the success of stem cell transplantation as a cure for HIV, first reported nine years ago in the Berlin patient, can be replicated,” said Ravindra Gupta, lead author of the study and a professor in University of Cambridge’s clinical microbiology department.
Unlike the Berlin patient — identified later as Timothy Ray Brown — Castillejo underwent only one stem-cell transplantation instead of two and did not have radiotherapy to his entire body as part of his treatment.
Castillejo represents a step toward a less intensive treatment approach, the authors said.
Still, given the invasive nature of the experimental treatment, the authors caution its widespread use.The Pismo SneakerLuxurious comfort without sacrificing style. What makes an UGG sneaker one of a kind?Ad By UGGSee More
“It is important to note that this curative treatment is high-risk, and only used as a last resort for patients with HIV who also have life-threatening haematological malignancies,” Gupta said. “Therefore, this is not a treatment that would be offered widely to patients with HIV who are on successful antiretroviral treatment.”
Since Castillejo is only the second reported patient to undergo this experimental treatment successfully, the authors note that he will require continued, but much less frequent, monitoring for re-emergence of the virus.
Sharon Lewin, director of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity at the University of Melbourne, said that the case was an “exciting advance” but should be viewed in context.
“It’s hard to know if this is a cure, only time will tell, but this is looking very promising,” Lewin said in a statement sent to CNN.
“This case is an exciting advance, but we need to also place it in context — curing people of HIV via a bone marrow transplant is just not a viable option on any kind of scale. We need to constantly reiterate the importance of, prevention, early testing and treatment adherence as the pillars of the current global response to HIV/AIDS. And maintain the search for an HIV cure,” she added.
In an interview with the New York Times, Castillejo said that he decided to reveal his identity after years of difficult treatments and moments of despair.
“This is a unique position to be in, a unique and very humbling position,” Castillejo told the newspaper. “I want to be an ambassador of hope.”
Kat Smithson, director of policy at the National AIDS Trust, applauded Castillejo for sharing his experience, adding that there is a stigma around HIV which can make it difficult for some people to seek help.
“His story helps raise much-needed awareness of HIV, but broader than that it’s a story about incredible resilience, determination and hope,” she said in a statement to CNN.
Photo Credit: CDC
Brother takes little sister to father-daughter dance after dad stands her up twice
(Meredith) – An 11-year-old Georgia boy stepped in to take his little sister to a father-daughter dance after her dad failed to show, and the thoughtful gesture is warming hearts across the country.
Trelysia Hamerter said her 7-year-old daughter, Skylar, was heartbroken after learning her father was not coming to the dance at her school in Atlanta for the second year in a row.
“She cried because she had her heart set on going,” Hamerter wrote in a Facebook post on Feb. 29.
“I felt so bad because there was nothing I could do because I’m not a male,” she added.
That’s when Skylar’s big brother, Christian, stepped in and offered to take her.
“He wanted his sister to know that she deserves a man keeping his word and making her feel special,” said Hamerter. “Y’all, I literally cried.”
She ended the post by saying: “Just know that I’m raising someone a GREAT HUSBAND one day.”
The viral Facebook post has garnered more than 100,000 reactions and 51,000 shares.
Photo Credit: kmov.com/Trelysia Hamerter
Soulja Boy’s soap company triples profits amid coronavirus pandemic
Soulja Boy chose the right time to invest in a soap company.
The 29-year-old rapper recently revealed that he and manager Miami Mike invested in a Mississippi franchise of The Soap Shop and sources told TMZ that the store’s profits have tripled amid the Coronavirus pandemic.
The Soap Shop corporation, which sells hand soap, dish detergent, and other cleaning products that people are snatching up amid the COVID-19 outbreak, has gone from selling 100 bottles of cleaning products a month to well-over 3,000 bottles, according to the website. That means the bubbly biz has seen a “record-setting” 3,000 percent increase.
The “Crank That” artist recently explained that he invested in The Soap Shop to mix things up.
“It’s just different businesses … once you get into the music industry, you know, branch out, do different stuff like try different things. Try different business ventures,” he told “The Breakfast Club” earlier this week. “Everybody needs soap.”
The Soap Shop also gives back to the community by benefiting local kids through Soulja’s charity called Bubbles for Cash.
Reps did not immediately respond to our request for comment.
Now that experts warn against human contact, Soulja was definitely onto something when he sang, “Kiss Me Through The Phone.”
Photo Credit: pagesix.com
Minnesota mom won’t explain why she threw son from 4th floor
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota mother has admitted she severely injured her 11-year-old son by throwing him from the balcony of their fourth-floor apartment but has not explained why, police said.
Itayvia Lloyd, 33, was being held Tuesday in the Ramsey County jail on probable charges of aggravated assault, malicious punishment of a child and assault of a police officer. Formal charges could be filed Tuesday.
A resident of the St. Paul apartment called police Monday believing the child had jumped from the balcony. Officers found the boy on the ground in the building’s courtyard with significant injuries, according to police spokesman Steve Linders.
Lloyd admitted that she dragged the boy from his bunk bed and threw him over the balcony, but did not explain why, Linders said.
The child is expected to survive, but he suffered injuries including at least one broken leg, a fractured jaw and head injuries, police said.
A 6-year-old sibling in the home appeared to be unharmed.
“It makes no sense,” Linders said, adding that it deeply affected first responders. “These are some of the most difficult calls that officers respond to — because many are parents themselves.”
Photo Credit: Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office
Naomi Campbell wears hazmat suit to airport amid coronavirus outbreak
CNN) — Naomi Campbell has long been an advocate of staying germ-free while traveling.
The supermodel even posted a video of her intense pre-flight ritual, which involved wiping down everything close to her airplane seat with Dettol anti-bacterial wipes, last year.
So, it’s perhaps no surprise the 49-year-old has opted to step things up considerably amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Campbell recently posted several images of herself boarding a plane at Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday while wearing a hazmat suit, a pair of goggles, a face mask and pink latex gloves.
In one photo, she poses inside Tom Bradley International Terminal with her suitcase, while another shows her on-board a plane wearing a cape draped over the protective suit, with one latex-covered hand clutching her mobile phone to her ear and the other gripping on to a transparent plastic bag.
‘Safety first’
Campbell captioned the images with the words, “Safety First. NEXT LEVEL,” before pledging to post a “full video” on her YouTube channel shortly.
While the supermodel’s precautionary outfit was given the seal of approval by many of her followers, others accused her of making light of the deadly outbreak, which has infected over a 100,000 people and killed over 4,000 across the world.Check Out How To Monetize Your Video ContentLearn the first and last thing every video team should do to start earning money from posting videos to social media.Ad By FacebookSee More
Campbell spoke of her techniques for avoiding germs while flying during a five-minute video shared on her YouTube channel last summer.
“Clean anything that you could possibly touch,” she advised, before wiping her seat, seat belt, tray table, TV screen, remote control and window with anti-bacterial wipes.
“This is what I do on every plane I get on. I do not care what people think of me. It’s my health and it makes me feel better.”
After putting on a sanitary face mask before take-off, Campbell went on to stress the rigorous routine has helped her to stay healthy during her lengthy modeling career, which has spanned three decades.
“I mean as much as I travel, I should get sick so much more with colds and stuff,” she said.
“I’m blessed that I don’t. I really think that this helps me, my little routine.”
While Campbell’s approach might seem a little on the extreme side, travelers are being instructed to wash or sanitize their hands after touching surfaces in airports and planes as world leaders attempt to contain coronavirus.
According to infectious disease experts, frequent hand washing is one of the best defenses against the spread of such viruses.
Photo Credit: Instagram
How New Yorkers are mating and dating during pandemic
In fair Corona, where we lay our scene, Juliet is prepping for a hot pandemic lockdown.
“Condoms, a bunch of sex toys . . . also, a mask — but not for coronavirus purposes,” says Mal, 41, reading off her quarantine shopping list.
The Lower East Sider, who declined to share her last name for privacy reasons, tells The Post that she has great sexpectations for the guy she’s been seeing during this viral outbreak. She thinks the next few weeks will be like those after the 9/11 attacks, when she and her then-boyfriend holed up in an apartment for several steamy days.
“We were stuck inside . . . and it was fantastic,” she says. “I felt safer with him.”
Coronavirus panic may be driving locals indoors, but it’s not killing their mojos. It just means they have to get craftier about canoodling — whether they’re single or partnered. That means setting up dates in less-crowded places (to gel with recommendations from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention), swapping face-to-face liaisons for sexy texts and cuffing a crush for a potentially lengthy quarantine.
Jason Lynn, 24, is trying to lock down his corona cling — fast.
“I’m working the DMs,” says the single financial adviser, who lives in North Jersey. “It’s been quiet . . . Everyone’s very cautious.”
But if his company tells him to work from home, he hopes to shack up with someone specific: a Connecticut girl he’s been seeing. Ideally, “in her place,” far away from the germy city.
“It would be heaven to be stuck with her for two weeks,” says Lynn, who’s been stocking up on protection of all kinds: disinfectant wipes, hand sanitizer and condoms. He’s envisioning Netflix and chill sessions — a “Narcos” binge watch with plenty of nooky interludes.
“I’d get to really know her,” he says.
Meanwhile, New Yorkers with long-distance lovers are trying to figure out how to connect.
Things are extra complicated for Westchester County resident Isabel Baer and her boyfriend Adam Konig, who works for Microsoft in Seattle, since both live in COVID-19 hotspots.
“I was supposed to go visit him, but then we both got freaked out,” says Baer, 21, a former political campaign staffer. She and Konig, 23, have been together for a year and a half, and long-distance for eight months. “If domestic flights get cancelled for months, I’d be really upset.”
For now, they’re rerouting. This weekend, the two plan to spend their monthly visit in Konig’s hometown of Dallas.
“He’s nervous that I’m going to bring coronavirus to Dallas and be patient zero in Texas, but I don’t have symptoms and I’m not sick,” says Baer, who says they’ve been keeping the love alive through FaceTime. “I don’t want to get hysterical.”
In the local swingers scene, people are mourning the unsexy side effects of crowd control.
“Play parties hosted at private venues or houses that me and my partners frequently visit have been empty the past two weeks,” says Tim, a technology firm executive who declined to share his last name for privacy reasons.
The 33-year-old from Hoboken, NJ, gets the reasoning — “I wouldn’t want to get anyone sick” — but says it’s “frustrating,” and says his dating life has been “significantly” impacted by the outbreak.
While some sex parties in the city are reportedly staying open — and incorporating “extra soap and sanitizer” into their gatherings — organizers of the regular “orgies” and “fetish parties” Tim attends have told him that “they might be cancelling the upcoming two months in advance,” he says. “They [don’t] want to continue until the whole scare dies down.”
Like Baer and Konig, Tim has a tech-centric backup plan for the worst-case scenario.
“I would look into video sessions with cam girls,” he says.
Going digital has emotional perks, too.
“There’s a sense that you’ve been speaking to someone longer, so you could invite them over because you kind of already know them,” says Mal.
As for married couples? Things are less lusty in that corner. The virus is causing friction between partners — and not the fun kind.
“I wanted to prepare as early as possible just to make sure we were covered, and my husband wasn’t being helpful,” Vanessa, a 30-year-old mom from Harlem, tells The Post. “He still gets annoyed at me when I tell him to wash his hands properly.”
But optimists like Mal hope that lovers will use the opportunity to reignite their relationships. In her case, she’s excited to take things to the next level with her hopeful corona cling. Although they’ve been on a few dates, they aren’t official, she says — but all the craziness has inspired her to have The Talk with him.
“We’re going to have that discussion soon,” she says, “because I’ll want to be quarantined at my place.”
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Mother broke ribs holding tightly to kids during storm
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. — A week after an EF-4 tornado destroyed communities and killed 24 people in Middle Tennessee, survivors continue to heal from their injuries as they process what happened.
Eric and Faith Johnson of Putnam County are among the survivors in the tornado-ravaged community of North McBroom Chapel Road, where eight people died on Tuesday morning. The family of five is packed at a hotel room for the next several days as the community helps them rebuild. Faith Johnson is recovering from breaking two ribs after holding on so tightly to her 18-month-old son and three-year-old daughter.
“I’m in a lot of pain, but my babies are worth it,” she said.
Eric Johnson was badly hurt after he was ripped from his home and landed in the backyard. He remembered waking up on his knees and head bleeding, and injury that required nine staples to close.
“I just can’t believe we’re still here,” Eric Johnson said. “For us to walk from that is a complete miracle and there’s no way to describe it.”
He was awakened by their dog, which prompted him to check the forecast. By the time he realized their lives were in danger, Faith Johnson and their children crouched in the bathtub. Roughly five seconds after he jumped in with them, Eric Johnson was blown away by the tornado.
“I grabbed my arms underneath; it was already in our house. It already shifted and pushed our house on the front, and our whole house exploded,” Eric Johnson said. “The winds just sucked me off and threw me.”
Faith Johnson described the moment like it was a scene straight from a movie as she watched him fly down what used to be their hallway. The bathtub shifted in different directions before breaking and landing on top of a pile of debris. Luckily, she and her kids were alive.
Meanwhile, Eric Johnson woke up on his knees with his head bleeding and yelled for his family.
“He was looking as though he had to look for his children, but I held on to them,” Faith Johnson said.
Eric Johnson has been returning to the scene every day since the tornado hit. He admitted the moment he nearly died keeps replaying in his head, but he visits hoping to find something new or their beloved dog that alerted him. The dog is alive, according to neighbors, but is too spooked to return.
On Tuesday, Eric Johnson tied a shirt with his scent around the cage.
“She can track the scent to know this is where we lived at,” he said.
Faith Johnson is hopeful someone will find her wedding ring. The amount of volunteers has been evident since last Tuesday, and the family said they’re grateful.
Anyone who would like to donate to the family can click here and donate through Church on the Hill. Choose the ‘Johnson Family’ under the designation drop-down menu.
This story was originally published by Matthew Torres on WTVF in Nashville.
Photo Credit: www.pix11.com
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