By Australian Associated Press and Sarah Dean Professor David Cooper carried out the ground-breaking research at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital Two men who were HIV-positive appear to be virus-free after bone marrow transplants, marking the first successful cases of HIV being cleared in Australia. Both men now register undetectable levels of the virus after treatment in Sydney, according to the University of NSW's Kirby Institute director, Professor David Cooper. In a significant breakthrough for researchers, one of the patients cleared the virus without donor marrow containing a rare gene mutation that protects against HIV. The human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS, became undetectable in both patients about three years after their transplants, Prof Cooper said.
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Two HIV-positive men were treated at Sydney's St Vincent Hospital
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They had bone marrow transplants and their HIV is now undetectable
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Professor David Cooper said these are the first successful cases of HIV being cleared in Australia
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Both patients remain on antiretroviral therapy to prevent HIV coming back
The first @placeholder patient underwent a bone marrow transplant in 2010 for non-Hodgkin lymphoma.