US doctor's 'gutsy' move led to baby's cure from HIV

JACKSON, Mississippi/CHICAGO, Illinois (REUTERS) - The doctor who cured an HIV infected baby for the first time is happier talking to children than to adults and is finding all the attention since the news came out a little overwhelming.

Dr Hannah Gay and colleagues Dr Katherine Luzuriaga of the University of Massachusetts and Dr Deborah Persaud of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore reported on the child's case at a medical meeting in Atlanta on Sunday.

"The breakthrough has been exciting and I'm very hopeful that that's going to lead to future research that will give us some answers," said Dr Gay, a Mississippi pediatrician and soft-spoken mother of four adult children.

But the attention is difficult for a woman "much more comfortable talking to children than adults," said her husband, Mr Paul Gay. "She didn't anticipate this kind of explosion of attention."