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Researchers have revealed that a 3-year-old girl from Mississippi who was born with HIV continues to be in remission 18 months after her combination antiretroviral treatment was stopped. This is according to an updated case report published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Medical News Today reported on the early findings of this case in March this year, in which the researchers said was the first case of a "functional cure" in an HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) positive infant.

But the research team from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center, the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the University of Mississippi Medical Center, say this confirmation of their findings suggest that the child's remission is "not a mere fluke."

They add that the findings provide "compelling evidence" that if an HIV positive child is started on antiretroviral therapy within the first hours or days of infection, viral remission can be achieved.

Born to an HIV-infected mother, the child began aggressive antiretroviral therapy (ART) 30 hours after birth.

Through a series of blood tests carried out days and weeks after treatment first began, the child demonstrated rapidly diminishing levels of the virus in her blood. When tested 29 days after birth, there were no detectable traces of the viral infection.

The child received antiviral treatment until she was 18-months-old, after which point the treatment was stopped. After undergoing standard repeat HIV tests around 10 months after the ceasing of treatment, the report states that physicians detected no HIV in her blood.

The researchers believe that through beginning the child's treatment so early, ART was able to halt the formation of hard-to-treat viral reservoirs. These are defined as immune cells with "dormant" HIV that can reignite the infection within weeks of ceasing therapy.

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First child 'cured' of HIV remains in remission for 18 months