A UK hospital patient is the second person in the world to be cleared of the Aids virus, doctors have said.

The male patient has achieved “sustained remission” from HIV after being treated at Hammersmith Hospital in west London, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust said.

Professor Eduardo Olavarria, from Imperial College London, said: “While it is too premature to say with certainty that our patient is now cured of HIV, he is clearly in a long-term remission.

“We continue to monitor his condition;, however, the apparent success of this treatment injects new hope in the search for a long-awaited cure for HIV/Aids.”#

A UK hospital patient is the second person in the world to be cleared of the Aids virus, doctors have said. Picture: Sam

The Aids pandemic has killed about 35 million people worldwide since it began in the 1980s and about 37 million people are infected with HIV. Scientific research into the complex virus has led to the development of drug combinations that can keep it at bay in most patients.

UK patient becomes second person in the world to be cleared of Aids virus