The woman, who lives in Argentina, has been dubbed the Esperanza Patient.

In 2013, doctors delivered a life-altering diagnosis to a woman in Esperanza, Argentina: She had acquired HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Just two other people — pseudonymously known as the London Patient and the Berlin Patient — have ever been cured of HIV, but only after having their immune cells completely replaced via stem cell therapy, according to research published in 2020 in The Lancet. .

The Argentine woman was dubbed the "Esperanza Patient" by her doctors in order to protect her anonymity in a country where people are still stigmatized for HIV-positive status.

Elite controllers represent just 1% of the global HIV-positive population, according to research published in 2019 in the Journal of Virus Eradication.

For now, Willenberg and the Esperanza Patient are special cases, even among elite controllers.

But their very existence offers a glimmer of hope in the ongoing search for an HIV/AIDS cure, doctors say. .

"Just thinking that my condition might help achieve a cure for this virus makes me feel a great responsibility and commitment to make this a reality," she told STAT in an email. .

Originally published on Live Science.