HIV remission more likely in baby boys than girls, new study finds
A study has found that baby boys are more likely to achieve HIV remission than girls in KZN.
The groundbreaking research was carried out by scientists from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and other institutes, including Oxford.
A total of 284 infants and their mothers living with HIV came under observation between 2015 and 2023.
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Lead researcher from UKZN, Dr Gabriela Cromhout, says anti-HIV therapy began at birth, after in-utero HIV transmission for the babies:
"What we were able to see is that, in general, females acquire HIV more easily than males. Males who acquire HIV are more likely to be able to control HIV himself than females."
Cromhout says if they can establish how the boys' immune system was able to control the virus, they'd be a step closer to finding a potential cure.
"We were able to look at the differences and the viruses that were transmitted to general males and general females and how these five males differed because we had five children as opposed to just one singular case.
“We were trying to look at mechanisms underlying this push-treatment control and where we can now further target our cure HIV interventions for both males, females, paediatrics.”
“They are not just within children but also in adults," says Cromhout.
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