A 60-year-old unidentified German man has been cured of HIV after receiving a stem cell transplant almost a decade ago, his doctors announced. According to news reports, he is the seventh man to have been successfully treated for the deadly viral infection that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome or AIDS. HIV weakens your immune system by destroying your T-cells until you are unable to fight off even minor illnesses.

The elderly man was suffering from acute myeloid leukemia when he underwent a risky procedure to replace his unhealthy bone marrow in October 2015. He quit taking anti-retroviral drugs – which work by stopping HIV from making more copies of itself at different points in its replication cycle – in 2018 and now remains in viral remission after appearing to be cancer-free.

“A healthy person has many wishes, a sick person only one,” the man, who wishes to remain anonymous, told the New York Post of his progress.

According to news reports, Dr. Christian Gaebler, a physician-scientist at the Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, is slated to present the case next week at the 25th International AIDS Conference, to be held in Munich. “The longer we see these HIV remissions without any HIV therapy, the more confidence we can get that we’re probably seeing a case where we really have eradicated all competent HIV,” Gaebler told The Post.

However, President of the International AIDS Society Sharon Lewin has cautioned against using the word “cure”. She said being in remission for more than five years means the German man “would be close” to being considered cured.

There is one major difference between the German man’s case and most of the rest. Six other patients, who received stem cells from donors had two copies of a rare genetic mutation that stops HIV from replicating. However, according to experts, the German patient is said to be the first to have received stem cells from a donor with just one copy of the mutated gene - and he had a copy of the gene himself.

Doctors say just 1 per cent of Caucasians have two copies of the defective gene, while 10-18 per cent of people with European heritage are estimated to have one copy of the gene, thus expanding the potential donor pool.

HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus, which infects and destroys cells of your immune system, making it hard to fight off other diseases. When HIV has severely weakened your immune system, it can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or AIDS – the final and most serious stage of an HIV infection. People with AIDS have very low counts of certain white blood cells and severely damaged immune systems. They may have additional illnesses that indicate that they have progressed to AIDS.

Statistics say around 39 million people across the world are living with HIV and very few will be able to access any kind of treatment, as it is reserved for those with HIV and aggressive leukemia.

Doctors say HIV infects white blood cells of your immune system, known as CD4 cells, or helper T cells. It destroys CD4 cells, causing your white blood cell count to drop, leaving you with an immune system that is not able to fight off infections, even those that would not normally make you sick. The infections initially make you feel sick with flu-like symptoms, while they slowly destroy your T-cells.

When your T-cells get extremely low or you begin to get certain illnesses that people with healthy immune systems don’t get, HIV has progressed to AIDS, which causes rapid weight loss, extreme tiredness, mouth or genital ulcers, fevers, night sweats, and skin discolorations.