Antiretroviral Therapy Causes 96% Reduction In HIV Transmission
Advances in HIV therapy have uncovered a promising finding.
HIV-positive men and women who take oral antiretroviral therapy (ART) medication when their immune systems are relatively healthy can reduce the risk of transmitting the disease to their sexual partners.
In fact, the risk was reduced by up to 96 percent.
The results were found in a wide-scale study sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
The trials were conducted worldwide at 13 different sites by the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN), and were primarily designed to study the effect of delayed ART use as opposed to immediate ART use when it comes to transmitting the virus from infected partners to uninfected partners.
In developing countries like India, where the rate of transmission via sexual means is over 90 percent, this is encouraging news.
The study, known as HTPN 052, began in 2005 with 1,763 couples participating.
All of these couples were sero-discordant; that is, one partner was HIV infected and the other was not.
Only 3 percent of the couples were homosexual couples.
The HIV-infected partners were relatively equally split along gender lines: 890 men, 873 women.
The requirement for acceptance into the study for HIV-infected partners was a CD4+ T-cell count between 350 and 550 cells per cubic centimeter, which meant they didn't require treatment to maintain their health.
The HIV-infected partners were randomly assigned to two groups.
One group was given ART drugs immediately (immediate ART), while the other group was given ART drugs only after their CD4+ T-cell count dropped below 250 cells per cubic centimeter or began showing signs of AIDS-related illnesses, such as Pneumocystis pneumonia (delayed ART).
Both groups received the same HIV-related care and counseling on safe sex practices, free condoms, information on HIV treatments, and so forth.
What were the results? The independent safety monitoring board charged with summarizing the data found that 39 new HIV infection cases developed among the previously uninfected partners.
Of those 39, 28 were genetically linked to the HIV-infected partner as the primary cause of infection; the remaining 11 were either still pending or not genetically linked to the partner.
Of these 28 cases, 27 were infected from partners who were in the delayed ART group.
Only 1 new genetically linked HIV-positive case came from the immediate ART group, resulting in a statistically significant 96 percent drop in HIV transmission from the infected partner to the uninfected partner as a result of immediate antiretroviral therapy.
HIV-positive men and women who take oral antiretroviral therapy (ART) medication when their immune systems are relatively healthy can reduce the risk of transmitting the disease to their sexual partners.
In fact, the risk was reduced by up to 96 percent.
The results were found in a wide-scale study sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
The trials were conducted worldwide at 13 different sites by the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN), and were primarily designed to study the effect of delayed ART use as opposed to immediate ART use when it comes to transmitting the virus from infected partners to uninfected partners.
In developing countries like India, where the rate of transmission via sexual means is over 90 percent, this is encouraging news.
The study, known as HTPN 052, began in 2005 with 1,763 couples participating.
All of these couples were sero-discordant; that is, one partner was HIV infected and the other was not.
Only 3 percent of the couples were homosexual couples.
The HIV-infected partners were relatively equally split along gender lines: 890 men, 873 women.
The requirement for acceptance into the study for HIV-infected partners was a CD4+ T-cell count between 350 and 550 cells per cubic centimeter, which meant they didn't require treatment to maintain their health.
The HIV-infected partners were randomly assigned to two groups.
One group was given ART drugs immediately (immediate ART), while the other group was given ART drugs only after their CD4+ T-cell count dropped below 250 cells per cubic centimeter or began showing signs of AIDS-related illnesses, such as Pneumocystis pneumonia (delayed ART).
Both groups received the same HIV-related care and counseling on safe sex practices, free condoms, information on HIV treatments, and so forth.
What were the results? The independent safety monitoring board charged with summarizing the data found that 39 new HIV infection cases developed among the previously uninfected partners.
Of those 39, 28 were genetically linked to the HIV-infected partner as the primary cause of infection; the remaining 11 were either still pending or not genetically linked to the partner.
Of these 28 cases, 27 were infected from partners who were in the delayed ART group.
Only 1 new genetically linked HIV-positive case came from the immediate ART group, resulting in a statistically significant 96 percent drop in HIV transmission from the infected partner to the uninfected partner as a result of immediate antiretroviral therapy.
