A recent report in The New England Journal of Medicine says that a stem cell transplant performed in Germany has unexpectedly removed all signs of HIV from a 42 year-old American patient. The unnamed white male was treated two years ago for leukaemia with a dose of donor stem cells. His HIV RNA count has dropped to zero and remained there. While the treatment was for leukaemia, Dr Gero Hutter and colleagues at the Charite Universitatsmedizen in Berlin had selected the stem cell donor for his HIV-resistant genes. Like many instances of “miraculous medicine”, this case has its complexities. Knowing all these qualifications and complexities, Dr Hutter says, “even if stem cells aren’t the cure for HIV/aids, they continue to impress me as an insanely versatile and effective route of treatment.”  – SingularityHub