First human to shake off AIDS

British citizen claimed last week to be the first person to become clear of the HIV virus, which can lead to AIDS, after earlier testing positive for it. If true, the case of 25-year-old Andrew Stimpson ? reported in two British newspapers ? could reveal more about the virus and possibly even provide a breakthrough in the search for a cure for HIV/AIDS. There is no known cure for HIV/AIDS. Patrick Dixon, a doctor and HIV expert, told Sky News this was the first time someone had kicked the virus out of their body. “It’s just possible inside this man’s body is a biological key. If we can find an antibody that he’s produced that has enabled him to kick this virus out, we could in theory find a way of engineering that antibody and giving it as some sort of treatment,” he said.

High IQ linked to longevity

Smarter children may enjoy longer lives, the results of a study at the Harvard School of Public Health suggests. The study, which followed elderly adults deemed gifted by childhood IQ tests, found that the higher their early IQs were, the longer they lived. Though the reasons for the link between IQ and longevity are not clear, it does not appear to be merely a reflection of income and social position. However, the speculations are that the children with high IQ may be more likely to take up healthy habits like regular exercise, while shunning health risks like smoking. They are also more likely to get high-paying, prominent jobs as adults, with all the advantages that confers. The study has appeared in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Mom’s diet eases child’s colic

For breast-fed babies who have colic, having mothers switch to a low-allergen diet reduces the amount of time the infants spend crying and fussing, an Australian research team reports. Previously, investigators found that substituting a hydrolysed casein- and whey-based preparation for regular formula appeared to improve colic symptoms, as did elimination of some proteins from the breast-feeding mother’s diet. The Australian team’s study, published in Pediatrics, found that those children whose mothers put on a low-allergen experimental diet that excluded foods containing dairy products, soy, wheat, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts and fish had little complaints of colic.

Nazi doctor loses credit

Nazi war criminal’s contribution to medicine is slowly being wiped out from history, New Scientist reports. Reiter’s syndrome ? used to describe a type of arthritis ? has been renamed ‘reactive arthritis’ to write off the name of Hans Reiter from medical texts. Reiter, a doctor who ran Hitler’s Health Office, had tried a typhoid vaccine in a concentration camp which killed 250 people.