A baby born with HIV has been cured, according to an AIDS research team at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore, Md.

The researchers announced Sunday in advance of the annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Atlanta, Ga., that that a Mississippi baby born with HIV, shows no detectable signs of the virus at age 2 ½, even after coming off HIV-fighting medication, according to the Wall Street Journal.

"The child got therapy and then went off therapy, and now there's no detectable virus," said pediatrician and AIDS researcher Deborah Persaud, the lead author of the study. "That's really unheard of. If people go off therapy, most of them rebound...within a few weeks."

"You could call this about as close to a cure, if not a cure, that we've seen," Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health told The Associated Press.

The baby was reportedly given stronger dosages of medication quicker than is the norm.

Dr. Hannah Gay, a pediatric HIV specialist at the University of Mississippi who assisted with the birth, proceeded with the experimental treatment after the baby's mother wasn't diagnosed with HIV until she was in labor.

"I just felt like this baby was at higher-than-normal risk, and deserved our best shot," Gray said.

According to Persaud, the quick treatment given to the baby with HIV is why the child was cured.

The lightning-fast response---Gray implemented a three-drug infusion for the baby within 30 hours of birth---allegedly knocked the HIV in the baby's body before it could form reservoirs of dormant cells.

It's these dormant cells that would normally rapidly reinfect anyone with HIV who stopped taking their medication. For only the second time in history, an AIDS patient has been deemed functionally cured, with the virus currently in remission.

"It opens up a lot of doors," Fauci said about the fact the baby with HIV was cured. "It makes perfect sense what happened."

An estimated 300,000 children were born with HIV in 2011.

Although the Mississippi baby with HIV, cured with preexisting medication is clearly a major advancement in AIDS research, Gay cautioned against being overly optimistic.

"We can't promise to cure babies who are infected," Gay said. "We can promise to prevent the vast majority of transmissions if the moms are tested during every pregnancy."