A child who was said to have been cured of human immunodeficiency virus last year has developed an HIV infection and been put back on antiretroviral drugs after remaining off of them for 27 months, dashing hopes of a new treatment for infants. 
 
 Doctors announced Thursday that traces of HIV were detected in the child last week during regular testing that she undergoes every six to eight weeks. 
 
 Continue reading below 
 
 The discovery was disappointing, doctors said on a conference call, because they hoped the aggressive treatment regimen that helped abate the child’s HIV could lead to a cure in infants. 
 
 “It felt very much like a punch to the gut,” said Dr. Hannah B. Gay, a pediatric HIV specialist at the University of Mississippi Medical Center who treats the girl. “It was disappointing from the scientific standpoint because we had been hopeful it would lead to bigger and better things, but mainly for the sake of the child who is back on medicine and expected to remain on medicine for a very long time.” 
 
 Dr. Katherine Luzuriaga, an immunologist at the University of Massachusetts Medical School who is part of the girls’ medical team, said during a conference call that tests show the child is responding well to drug therapy. 
 
 RELATED | Evan Horowitz: Studies show many studies are false 
 
 HIV hides in so-called reservoirs of the body, and the viral material there often remains dormant as long as a patient is receiving antiretroviral drugs. But as soon as the drugs are stopped, the viral strains can become active and replicate in the body. 
 
 Outside experts said the findings are still critical in advancing HIV treatment. Though more research is needed, the “Mississippi baby” case shows that early, aggressive therapy can be effective in reducing reservoirs in the body, especially because she remained free of replicable HIV for more than two years — a landmark finding. 
 
 Continue reading below 
 
 The child’s mother delivered her in a rural Mississippi hospital in 2010 but did not know she was infected with HIV. She did not undergo treatment during her pregnancy, so the baby was transferred to University of Mississippi Medical Center when she was about 30 hours old after doctors thought she could have been infected. 
 
 Gay used a three-drug regimen instead of the typical one or two drugs for a newborn. The child showed undetectable levels of HIV after a month but continued to take antiretroviral drugs until she was 18 months old. Her mother then stopped bringing her to the hospital and ceased the drug treatment. 
 
 When the child returned to the hospital five months later, Gay and Luzuriaga ran a battery of tests and found some viral genetic material but no replicable strains lying in reservoirs, leading them to believe the girl had been “functionally cured.” 
 
 The case is familiar for Dr. Timothy Henrich, a Brigham and Women’s Hospital infectious diseases associate physician. Henrich led a team of Boston researchers studying two patients who had become HIV-free after undergoing bone marrow transplants for cancer but were later found to have detectable levels of the disease. 
 
 “It was almost a little bit of PTSD and déjà vu for me,” Henrich said. “When I first read the news, my heart sank. . . . The most difficult thing I had to do as part of our study was tell [the patients] the virus had returned.” 
 
 The discovery that the Mississippi baby has developed viremia — an active infection — highlights how much more there is to learn about these reservoirs, said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. 
 
 Some outside experts doubted whether the child ever had been infected with HIV, when doctors announced she had been cured last year. The girl’s doctors said discovering viremia shows she was infected, but they effectively eliminated the HIV in the child, even if not permanently. 
 
 “This was unprecedented,” Dr. Deborah Persaud, professor of infectious disease at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and the lead author of the original report on the baby last year, said of the child successfully staying off antiretroviral drugs for 27 months. “The most important finding is indeed, this child was, without a doubt, infected with HIV.” 
 
 There is only one person believed to have been cured of HIV. In 2009, German doctors reported that Timothy Ray Brown, an American known as the “Berlin patient,” received a bone marrow transplant from a patient with a rare genetic mutation that is thought to provide resistance to HIV. 
 
 The Berlin patient was an exceptional case because of the rare mutation that came from the marrow donor, Henrich said. 
 
 Even with very low levels of viral material, there is always the risk HIV can reemerge at detectable levels. 
 
 The Mississippi case “was a seminal study that was very important and did teach us a lot and is still teaching us a lot,” Henrich said. “It’s still worthwhile to pursue this research.” 
 
 Related coverage: 
 
 • Baby born with HIV may be cured 
 
 • Evan Horowitz: Studies show many studies are false 

 Story highlights Mississippi baby "cured" of HIV is now showing signs of the virus 
 
 Baby was given high doses of three antiretroviral drugs shortly after birth 
 
 Baby born with HIV in California was given the same treatment 
 
 A Mississippi baby scientists thought was "functionally cured" of HIV now has detectable levels of the virus in her blood, her doctors say. 
 
 The news is disappointing for a case the scientific community hailed just last year as a potential game changer in the fight against AIDS. 
 
 "It felt like a punch to the gut," Dr. Hannah Gay, a pediatric HIV specialist at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, said of seeing signs of the virus on test results earlier this month. 
 
 "It was extremely disappointing from both the scientific standpoint ... but mainly for the sake of the child who is back on medicine and expected to stay on medicine for a very long time." 
 
 Media outlets around the world covered the Mississippi case when it was first made public in March 2013. CNN updated its story again in October when researchers announced the toddler was still HIV free 
 
 JUST WATCHED Baby "cured" of HIV, are adults next? Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Baby "cured" of HIV, are adults next? 03:51 
 
 JUST WATCHED AIDS researchers look for a cure Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH AIDS researchers look for a cure 03:07 
 
 JUST WATCHED Doctor explains finding baby HIV-free Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Doctor explains finding baby HIV-free 05:47 
 
 The child was born to a mother who received no prenatal care and was not diagnosed as HIV-positive herself until just before delivery. "We didn't have the opportunity to treat the mom during the pregnancy as we would like to be able to do, to prevent transmission to the baby," Gay said last year. 
 
 Doctors administered high doses of three antiretroviral drugs 30 hours after the girl was born in case she was infected. They hoped to control the virus, which was not detectable at the time. The child remained on antiretroviral drugs for approximately 18 months. Her mother then stopped administering the drugs for an unknown reason. 
 
 A few months later, doctors said the little girl had no evidence of the life-threatening disease in her blood . They announced that the girl was the first child to be "functionally cured" of HIV. A "functional cure" is when the presence of the virus is so small, lifelong treatment is not necessary and standard clinical tests cannot detect the virus in the blood. 
 
 However, during a routine doctor visit early this month, tests detected HIV antibodies in the now 4-year-old child. Her T-cell count was also low, indicating a weakened immune system. More than two years after being taken off the medication, doctors started her again on antiretroviral therapy. 
 
 She will need to be on these medications for life -- or until scientists find a cure for HIV. 
 
 "Certainly, this is a disappointing turn of events for this young child, the medical staff involved in the child's care, and the HIV/AIDS research community," NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci said in a statement. "Scientifically, this development reminds us that we still have much more to learn about the intricacies of HIV infection and where the virus hides in the body." 
 
 Despite the setback, researchers are optimistic about using this early treatment method on infants infected with HIV. A clinical trial aimed at studying the effect will be amended to include this new information, they said, before it begins recruiting participants. 
 
 "We´ve always known that the search for an HIV cure wasn't going to be easy," Françoise Barre-Sinoussi, president of the International AIDS Society, said in a statement. "Cases like this are hugely important for informing researchers on where to focus their efforts." 
 
 Current treatment methods 
 
 Researchers have long known that treating HIV-positive mothers while they are pregnant is important for the health of the child because they pass antibodies on to their babies that can protect them from disease. 
 
 All HIV-positive moms will pass on those antibodies, but only 30% will transmit the actual virus, said Dr. Katherine Luzuriaga, an immunologist at the University of Massachusetts who worked closely with Gay. And HIV-positive mothers who are given appropriate treatment pass on the virus in less than 2% of cases. 
 
 "So all babies are born antibody-positive, but only a fraction of babies born to HIV-positive women will actually get the virus, and that fraction depends on whether the mom and baby are getting antiviral prophylaxis (preventive treatment) or not." 
 
 Newborns are considered high-risk if their mothers' HIV infections are not under control or if the mothers are found to be HIV-positive when they're close to delivering. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Ryan Lewis on his mother's battle with HIV Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Ryan Lewis on his mother's battle with HIV 03:59 
 
 JUST WATCHED HIV returns in transplant patients Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH HIV returns in transplant patients 00:31 
 
 JUST WATCHED Magic Johnson on HIV/AIDS, gay son Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Magic Johnson on HIV/AIDS, gay son 05:00 
 
 Usually, these infants would get antiviral drugs at preventive doses for six weeks to prevent infection, then start antiretroviral therapy, or ART, if HIV is diagnosed. 
 
 ART is a combination of at least three drugs used to suppress the virus and stop the progression of the disease. 
 
 But they do not kill the virus. 
 
 In March, doctors announced that another child born with HIV appeared to be free of the virus after receiving similar treatment to the Mississippi baby. The case report was presented at the annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Boston. 
 
 The girl was delivered at Miller Children's Hospital in Long Beach, California, last summer to a mother with HIV who had not received antiretroviral drugs during pregnancy. Doctors gave the baby high doses of three drugs -- AZT, 3TC and Nevirapine -- four hours after birth. Eleven days later, the virus was undetectable in her body and remained undetectable eight months later. 
 
 "Taking kids off antiretroviral therapy intentionally is not standard of care," said Dr. Deborah Persaud at the time, a virologist with Johns Hopkins Children's Center who has been involved in both cases. 
 
 On Thursday Persaud said the California baby is still on antiretroviral treatment and doing well, said Persaud. 
 
 "At this time, there is no plan to stop treatment." 

 Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. 
 
 / Updated 
 
 A baby who doctors had hoped may have been cured of HIV infection is infected again, doctors reported on Thursday — a disappointing blow to hopes that it might be possible to stop infection in its tracks. 
 
 The child, now 4, had been regularly tested for the AIDS virus and now the virus has not only returned, but showed signs of damaging her immune system, researchers said. 
 
 "It felt very much like a punch to the gut," said Dr. Hannah Gay of the University of Mississippi, who has been treating the child. 
 
 Sign up for top Health news direct to your inbox. 
 
 “The baby has now rebounded with clearly detectable HIV viremia,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). 
 
 “Certainly, this is a disappointing turn of events for this young child, the medical staff involved in the child’s care, and the HIV/AIDS research community.” 
 
 The Mississippi baby was born a little premature to a mother discovered to have HIV only when she was in labor. The mom had not ever been treated for HIV. Within 30 hours of birth the baby was re-tested and had clear evidence of HIV infection. 
 
 Unusually, she then got a cocktail of three drugs at a dose normally reserved for more advanced cases. It worked really well — pushing her virus down to what’s called undetectable levels. 
 
 "It felt very much like a punch to the gut." 
 
 The baby and her mom, who doctors have never named, got regular care and treatment from Gay at University of Mississippi Medical Center until she was 15 months old. Then, like so many children, she disappeared off the doctors’ radar screens. The mother brought her back briefly at 18 months but disappeared again but she missed at least eight months' worth of drugs. When Gay caught up to her again, the baby was still well, despite having received no treatment. 
 
 Now, at age 4, she has shown evidence of infection for the first time since she was born. 
 
 In 2013, a second child was born in Long Beach, Calif. to a woman who doctors knew was not taking her HIV medication. The infant was treated immediately and the virus is now barely detectable. 
 
 The U.S. government is looking for more babies to test the treatment, but Fauci said NIAID may have to adjust the new study. "We are going to take a very careful look at that study," Fauci told reporters. 
 
 They'll be studying the child's blood and her immune system. 
 
 “Typically, when treatment is stopped, HIV levels rebound within weeks, not years.” 
 
 It's not a total loss, the researchers said. The child was able to get through the toddler years without having to take the cocktail of drugs usually used to control the virus. 
 
 “The fact that this child was able to remain off antiretroviral treatment for two years and maintain quiescent virus for that length of time is unprecedented,” said Dr. Deborah Persaud of John Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore and one of the two pediatric HIV experts involved in the case. “Typically, when treatment is stopped, HIV levels rebound within weeks, not years.” 
 
 The early treatment may have at least slowed the virus down, the researchers speculated. 
 
 “How can someone be off therapy for 27 months…and yet the virus remains suppressed?” Fauci asked. The baby may have had a special immune response, he said. 
 
 “Scientifically, this development reminds us that we still have much more to learn about the intricacies of HIV infection and where the virus hides in the body,” Fauci added. “The NIH remains committed to moving forward with research on a cure for HIV infection.” 
 
 There was evidence the virus had started damaging the child’s immune system as it came back. She had fewer than the normal number of CD4 T-cells – the infection-fighting cells that HIV targets and kills. “We know that the CD4 T-cells dropped a bit with the re-emergence of virus but they have started to come up very nicely with the initiation of treatment,” Gay said. 
 
 “For now, the child needs antiretroviral treatment,” Persaud said. But she hopes research will find a better way to control the virus. “These children can live to their 30s and 40s,” she pointed out. The hope is to extend that as doctors learn more. 
 
 The human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS has only been common since the early 1980s. There’s no cure and no vaccine yet. 
 
 One of the many ways the AIDS virus is transmitted is during birth. An infected mother can infect her baby. But giving both mother and baby a few doses of two HIV drugs — AZT and nevirapine — can reduce this transmission by 99 percent. 
 
 In 2010, 162 babies were born with HIV in the 46 states where monitoring is done, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. CDC says about 1.2 million people in the U.S.are infected with HIV and about 50,000 new infections are diagnosed each year. 
 
 Some experts had questioned whether the child had truly been born infected. “The one thing we did learn throughout all of this was there was some doubt the baby was infected. The baby clearly was infected,” Fauci said. 
 
 The case still suggests that a cure is possible, advocacy groups said. "The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation expresses disappointment in this setback but remains hopeful that the scientific breakthrough that allowed the child’s HIV levels to remain undetectable for more than two years will continue to help researchers understand how to control HIV and ultimately develop a cure,"the group said in a statement.
– For more than two years, it seemed too good to be true. And now it turns out that a Mississippi baby thought to have been cured of HIV wasn't cured after all, reports NBC News. The girl, now 4, tested positive last week and is back on antiretroviral drugs. The case made international headlines last year: After the baby was born to a mother with HIV, doctors put her on aggressive drug treatment just 30 hours after birth. The mother, however, stopped giving her daughter the drugs at 18 months. The baby missed several months of treatment, and when doctors finally saw her again, they were stunned to discover that she had barely detectable levels of HIV. In effect, she was "functionally cured," recounts CNN. That remained the case until last week. “It felt very much like a punch to the gut,” says Dr. Hannah B. Gay, who treats the girl. “It was disappointing from the scientific standpoint because we had been hopeful it would lead to bigger and better things, but mainly for the sake of the child who is back on medicine and expected to remain on medicine for a very long time.” HIV hides in reservoirs of the body, and antiretroviral drugs keep it in check there, explains the Boston Globe. Its reemergence in this case shows that doctors have much to learn about those reservoirs, says Anthony Fauci, chief of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. It's not all bad news, though: The girl got to be a toddler without having to take a daily cocktail of drugs, and her case holds out hope of improving on the treatment. (Doctors are keeping an eye on another "functionally cured" baby in California.)