logo
episode-header-image
Feb 2022
8m 59s

The Berlin Patient

Bbc World Service
About this episode

In the 1990s, doctors in Berlin began a cutting-edge treatment programme that led to a patient being cured of HIV/AIDS. The so-called "Berlin patient" was Timothy Ray Brown: he was suffering from leukemia as well as HIV/AIDS, and was given a bone marrow transplant from a donor with a rare genetic mutation which killed off the HIV virus. Timothy Ray Brown was a campaigner for AIDS research until his death, from leukemia, in 2020. Ashley Byrne speaks to his partner, Tim Hoeffgen.

PHOTO: Timothy Ray Brown in 2012 (Getty Images)

Up next
Apr 2025
The Cu Chi tunnels of the Vietnam War
During the Vietnam War, North Vietnamese VietCong guerrillas built a vast network of tunnels in the south of the country as part of the insurgency against the South Vietnamese government and their American allies. The tunnel network was a key base and shelter for the North Vietna ... Show More
9m 43s
Yesterday
The first carbon offset
In 1988, as floods struck Bangladesh and a heat wave swept across the United States, climate change became a political issue. Governments and businesses alike talked about how to stop it, or at least slow it down. That year the think tank World Resources Institute and the energy ... Show More
9m 20s
Apr 2026
The world's first perfume archive
On 26 April 1990, the world's first perfume archive opened in Versailles, France.The idea behind L'Osmothèque was to create a collection of scents and preserve their memory.Perfumer Jean Claude Ellena was one of the team who created it.He speaks to Jen Dale about how L'Osmothèque ... Show More
10m 6s
Recommended Episodes
Feb 2022
LGBT history special
<p>In the 1990s, doctors in Berlin began a cutting-edge treatment programme that led to a patient being cured of HIV/AIDS. The so-called "Berlin patient" was Timothy Ray Brown: he was suffering from leukemia as well as HIV/AIDS, and was given a bone marrow transplant from a donor ... Show More
50m 8s
Sep 2019
A conversation with the 'Berlin patient,' the first person cured of HIV
In 2007, a man known as the "Berlin patient" was cured of HIV through a stem cell transplant. It was an incredible accomplishment that researchers all over the world scrutinized for years to come. He was the first and only documented case of a person who has been cured of HIV unt ... Show More
18m 16s
Jan 2024
Surviving AIDS in the 80s
Peter Staley was a 24-year-old, closeted finance guy when he was diagnosed with HIV. Having been handed a death sentence, he quit his job and devoted what life he had left to fighting the homophobic governments that were letting him and his friends die. Peter tells us about livin ... Show More
1h 33m
May 2023
AIDS
In the 1980s, the world was gripped by a virus that was killing people in their thousands; savaging communities and creating a climate of fear, blame and ignorance. That virus was HIV, and here to sift the facts from the fiction and explain how the AIDS crisis transformed everyth ... Show More
40m 4s
Dec 2021
Four decades of HIV/Aids
<p>It’s forty years since the first report on HIV/Aids appeared in a medical journal. Back in the early days in the 1980s a misunderstanding made one man the face of the epidemic. A Canadian air steward, Gaetan Dugas was mistakenly identified as ‘Patient Zero’. A misreading of sc ... Show More
49m 45s
Mar 2020
Episode 6: A Cure For HIV, The Death of the Grim Sleeper, and Poop Tool
The world's second person has been cured of HIV, the notorious serial killer known as The Grim Sleeper is dead, and a new online tool can help you calculate how long your current toilet paper stash will last. Join Ben Bowlin for more Strange News Daily, and share your stories on ... Show More
11m 9s
Mar 2020
The HIV & AIDS Epidemic Pt. 2
In December 1984, Indiana-native Ryan White was diagnosed with AIDS at the age of thirteen. The disease had no known treatment, no cure, and Ryan was given six months to live. The clock was ticking, and Ryan soon found himself at the center of a media storm. Learn more about your ... Show More
50m 38s