Scientists are now suggesting that with early treatment of HIV that patients may remain in remission for a longer period of time.

In 1996, a woman with HIV gave birth to a baby girl that tested positive as well. The French girl was aggressively treated with a regiment of anti-retroviral medication immediately after birth. The girl’s virus has now been in remission for 12 years, according to Dispatch Times.

Researchers are crediting the long remission to the early application of the medications which was a class of several drugs commonly used to stop the HIV from replication.

But Dr. Asier Sáez-Cirión of the Institut Pasteur in Paris says that the girl does not have the same genetic factors that usually are associated with people who are naturally able to control HIV infection.

There was a case in Mississippi where an infant who was once believed to have the HIV virus was cured as a similar result of immediate treatment with anti-retroviral medications.

“Her case though constitutes a strong additional argument in favor of initiation of antiretroviral therapy as soon as possible after birth in all children born to seropositive [HIV positive] mothers”, said Dr. Rashida Ferrand, a lecturer in clinical epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Ferrand added that this case is a very exciting breakthrough for HIV research.

The case is providing experts with new beacon of a “functional” cure for HIV in which treatment would entail bringing the virus down to very low levels, but not be eliminated from the body.

“My sense is that this will galvanize the efforts to put more people on treatment and that most, if not all, guidelines will change to recommending treatment irrespective of CD4-positive count”, said Lundgren. “We talk about losing people through the cascade of care, but for some groups, the reality is a more like a cliff, and these gaps represent the clay feet of today’s mammoth – yet still inadequate – global HIV response.”

He also added that the group Doctors Without Borders had pledged to deliver as well as oversee the treatments which are already paid for.

The gold standard at this point for treatment involves adherence counseling along with viral load monitoring. This combination helps to ensure that the treatment is working for the patient and that they are also maintaining the desired “undetectable” level of the virus. This way, they will have the best chance to increase their health and reduce the likelihood of HIV transmission.