July 25, 2012WASHINGTON (Deutsche Presse-Agentur) -- Timothy Brown, the first person ever believed to be cured of HIV, plans to join the search for a cure for others by founding an AIDS research foundation.
"I am living proof there could be a cure for AIDS," Brown told a press conference in Washington late Tuesday. "I am now choosing to dedicate my life, my body, and my story to finding a cure for AIDS."
Brown said he will partner with the World AIDS Institute to raise money for research into a cure.
Six years ago, Brown was HIV-positive. During treatment for leukaemia, he underwent a stem cell transplant in Berlin. A few years later, doctors could no longer find HIV in his body.
Some doctors declared the "Berlin patient" cured. But they emphasized that Brown's was a unique and complicated case, not immediately applicable to other patients.
They also surmised that the virus may still be present in his body, but in such small quantities that it is no longer detectable.
"I am the first, and I believe the first of many people who will be cured of the AIDS virus." Brown said.
"There is undoubtedly a certain amount of skepticism, but that is the way science progresses."
Copyright 2012 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
