Any claim to “cure” HIV is false. A new social media scam targeting HIV-positive people in Zambia latches onto Crispr gene editing technology, used in an exciting experiment in the search for a possible – but not the actual – cure.

MARY ALEXANDER • 22 April 2024

HIV can be cured with gene therapy. That’s the false claim circulating on Facebook in the southern African country of Zambia since late March 2024.

HIV is the human immunodeficiency virus that, if left untreated, can cause the disease Aids – acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

“HIV CURE GENE THERAPY. DR.MICHAEL MWEYA IS HERE FOR YOU,” reads one version of the claim, with a WhatsApp contact number.*

“HIV CURE. You can end HIV stigma by using Gene therapy,” reads another.

Yet another supposedly explains the “cure”:

Our medicine introduces new and modified genes into cells which make them resistant to the virus. This makes an AAV9 vector containing a genomic payload of HIV-1 specific CRISPR Cas9gRNA editing transgene that is delivered through transduction of cells. This is the only certified final hiv cure worldwide.

It too supplies a WhatsApp number.

The claim can also be seen here, here, here and here.

Zambia has one of the highest rates of HIV infection in Africa. In 2022, according to World Health Organization estimates, about 10.82% of the country’s people in the reproductive age range of 15 to 49 were HIV-positive.

There is still no cure for HIV, although infection with the virus can be managed with antiretroviral medicine.

So where does the false claim come from?

Gene editing experiment a promising step in search for HIV cure

On 19 March scientists at the Amsterdam University Medical Centre in the Netherlands announced the results of an exciting experiment.

Using Crispr gene editing technology, they had managed to remove all traces of HIV from a culture of immune cells in a laboratory.

“These findings represent a pivotal advancement towards designing a cure strategy,” the researchers said in a statement.

But they added: “While these preliminary findings are very encouraging, it is premature to declare that there is a functional HIV cure on the horizon.”

The experiment was in isolated cells, not a human body. And while it holds promise for a possible way to eventually end the infection, it is not a cure.

News of the experiment was widely covered by the Zambia media, as seen here, here, here, here and here.

Whatever those Facebook users are offering at the end of their WhatsApp lines, it’s not an HIV cure, and it’s not Crispr.

* Some claims posted on Facebook and Instagram may have been deleted by users after being rated via Meta’s Third-Party Fact-Checking Program.

Published by Africa Check on 25 April 2024