Early treatment of HIV can result in a functional cure for around 10 percent of patients say French researchers.

The conclusion comes from a study of 14 people who were given anti-viral drugs very soon after becoming infected with HIV.

Seven years after stopping treatment, the patients still showed no signs of the virus “rebounding|”.

The study was carried out in Paris by members of the same team who identified HIV 30 years ago, and comes hard on the heels of news from the US of a baby girl in Mississippi who was functionally cured of HIV after receiving very early treatment.