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HIV cure raises hope

“It’s a big deal to show that, if we really hit the virus hard right at birth, perhaps, for those babies that might be getting infected at that early time in their life, we may be able to eliminate the virus from their system," said Marlink.

The impact could be especially great in sub-Saharan Africa, where most of the roughly 300,000 children born with HIV each year reside.

Marlink says it could save lives, as well as eliminate the burden of lifelong therapy.

“We wouldn’t have to be treating them the rest of their life," he said. "They wouldn’t have the toxicity the rest of their life and the cost the rest of their life of being on treatment.”

Researchers today are talking not just about treating but curing HIV infection. It’s a remarkable turn of events for veterans of the epidemic.

“Unbelievable a few years ago," said Volberding. "And we wouldn’t have done it with any sense of optimism at all. And I think now, we’re still pretty realistic about it. We know it’s not around the corner, but there’s at least a critical mass, we hope, of research now being conducted.”