A large group of people whose bodies naturally control HIV have been found in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has given scientists hope for a cure.
The study discovered that as many as 4% people who are HIV positive in the DR Congo have naturally suppressed the virus.
Typically, less than 1% of people are able to control the virus without medical intervention.
The study's lead scientist, Mary Rodgers, told the BBC: "We really weren’t expecting to find so many people who are able to control HIV naturally without taking any medication.
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“So, when we found that there were so many people able to do this, it was relatively ground-breaking to us.”
Dr Rodgers, head of Abbott’s global viral surveillance programme, explained that she suspects that this natural suppression is a “unique immune response to the virus”.
The group in the DR Congo is the biggest detected in one country, with between 2.7% and 4.3%.
Additionally, 1% of people living with HIV in Cameroon were also identified as efficiently controlling the virus naturally.
She continued: “We know that HIV itself has its origins in this part of the world and so it’s very possible that the potential cure to HIV, may also have its origins here in this group of people.”
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The scientific community intend to learn from this group of “elite controllers” to aid further research to tackle the virus, by advancing treatments and developing a vaccine.
As of now, people living with HIV take anti-retroviral medicines every day to suppress the virus and reduce their viral load.
HIV arose as a global epidemic in the 1980s and as of 2019 38 million people were reported as living with HIV or AIDS – of which 1.8 million were children.
AIDS-related deaths were reduced by 60% since the peak in 2004.
In 2019 690,000 people died globally from AIDS-related illness, as opposed to 1.1 million in 2010.
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