‘Early HIV treatment makes virus 96% less infectious’
Models walk the ramp during the “Friends of the Israel Defence Forces” fundraiser and fashion show in Beverly Hills, California,
In what could be called a key breakthrough in the fight against AIDS, scientists claim to have found that HIV carriers who start early treatment are 96 per cent less likely to infect the partner. In theory, if every person carrying the virus was treated at the earliest opportunity, the spread of AIDS could almost be stopped in its tracks, according to the landmark study funded by the US-based National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Dr Anthony Fauci, Director of the Institute, was quoted by the Daily Mail as saying, “These findings strongly indicate that treating an individual sooner rather than later can reduce the risk of HIV transmission to a sex partner.”
Current medical guidelines suggest starting treatment when a sufferer’s CD4 T-cell count — a measure of the strength of the immune system — drops to between 350 to 500 cells per cubic millimetre of blood.
But the new study suggests that immediate treatment can make carriers 27 times less likely to pass on the virus. Dr Fauci said: “Now you are talking not only about the benefit to the individual, but also about the benefit for preventing transmission to others.” In 2005, the scientists enrolled 1,763 couples in 13 sites in Botswana, Brazil, India, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Thailand, the US. And Zimbabwe. Each couple had one partner who was infected with the virus and another who was not.
Half of the infected partners began treatment with a combination of three HIV drugs. The other HIV-infected partners; treatment was delayed until they showed signs of an AIDS-related illness or their T-cell count fell to 250.
An interim analysis of the study, which was due to continue until 2015, showed that of the 28 infections between partners, 27 had come from those in delayed treatment group. The scientists halted the study and everyone with the virus was offered treatment.
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