An Argentinian woman has become the second ever person in the world to rid herself of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) without drugs or medical treatment, according to researchers. According to a report published Tuesday in the Annals of Internal Medicine titled, “A Possible Sterilizing Cure of HIV-1 Infection Without Stem Cell Transplantation,” a now 31-year-old woman who was diagnosed with HIV in 2013 only took antiretroviral therapy for six months during pregnancy to stop the infection transmitting to her baby. Tests on more than a billion of her cells found no viable trace of the infection and doctors believe the patient’s immune system may have cleared the virus on its own. Researchers have dubbed the woman the “Esperanza patient,” after her hometown. The word “esperanza” translates to “hope” in English. “Genome-intact and replication-competent HIV-1 were not detected in an elite controller despite analysis of massive numbers of cells from blood and tissues, suggesting that this …