The second person in the world to be cured of HIV has revealed his identity, almost a year after he was wiped off the AIDS-causing virus.
Adam Castillejo, 40, was known only as the ‘London patient’ when doctors revealed his success story last March after a stem cell transplant to treat his cancer.
He remained anonymous until he decided he wanted to be seen as an ‘ambassador of hope’ after struggling with his health for almost two decades.
Mr Castillejo, who was born in Venezuela, was diagnosed with blood cancer in 2012, having already lived with HIV since 2003.
His last hope of cancer survival was a bone marrow transplant from a donor with HIV-resistant genes that could wipe out his cancer and virus in one fell swoop.
The procedure in May 2016 meant Mr Castillejo, whose mental health had spiraled drastically over the years and even led him to consider ending his life, was cleared of both cancer and HIV.
The only other person to have survived the life-threatening technique, and come out of it HIV-free, was so-called ‘Berlin patient’ Timothy Ray Brown, a US man treated in Germany 12 years ago.
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Speaking with the New York Times, Mr Castillejo said: ‘This is a unique position to be in, a unique and very humbling position. I want to be an ambassador of hope.
‘I don’t want people to think, ‘Oh, you’ve been chosen,’ he said. No, it just happened. I was in the right place, probably at the right time, when it happened.’
Experts have hailed the treatment as a ‘milestone’ in the fight against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
But they urged caution when calling it a ‘cure’ at such an early stage. Mr Castillejo’s doctors dubbed it ‘remission’ and said they needed to wait more time before declaring he was HIV-free.
