Is an HIV Cure Possible? 10 Confirmed Cases

The “Oslo patient” is in HIV remission after receiving a stem cell transplant from his brother who carried a rare genetic mutation, according to a study published in Nature Microbiology on April 13, 2026. The 62-year-old man from Oslo, Norway, had been living with HIV since 2006 and was diagnosed with an aggressive blood cancer in 2017. Without a stem cell transplant, doctors said his prognosis was poor. When no suitable donor with the CCR5 delta 32 mutation was found in international registries, medical teams turned to the patient’s older brother. The brother was found to carry the mutation, which occurs in about one in every 100 people in Scandinavia and prevents HIV from entering immune cells by blocking the CCR5 receptor. The transplant was performed in 2020 to treat the blood cancer. After the procedure, the patient remained on antiretroviral therapy for two years. In 2022, under close medical supervision, doctors paused the treatment to test whether the virus had returned. Since then, repeated tests have shown no detectable HIV in the blood or tissues, including reservoirs like the gut where the virus often hides. Researchers confirmed the absence of the virus through extensive analysis. The case marks the tenth documented instance worldwide in which HIV has become undetectable following a stem cell transplant, primarily performed to treat life-threatening blood cancers. Scientists note that while the approach is not scalable due to its risks and rarity of compatible donors, each case provides valuable insight into potential paths toward an HIV cure. As the patient reportedly told doctors, the outcome felt like “winning the lottery twice.”