An HIV+Person CAN Dramatically Avoid Transmission of the Virus With Meds
An HIV-positive person can dramatically reduce the transmission of the virus if they are treated immediately after diagnosis with anti-retroviral drugs, according to a study.
The HIV Prevention Trials Network conducted the controlled trial, known as HPTN 052, to evaluate the effectiveness of anti-retroviral therapy in preventing transmission.
The results are the first to indicate that treating an HIV-positive person can reduce the risk of sexual transmission of HIV to an uninfected partner.
Cohen, the principal investigator of the study, claimed the result was "excellent news".
He added: “The study was designed to evaluate the benefit to the sexual partner as well as the benefit to the HIV-infected person. This is the first randomised clinical trial to definitively indicate that an HIV-infected individual can reduce sexual transmission of HIV to an uninfected partner by beginning antiretroviral therapy sooner.”
HPTN 052, the study, began in 2005 at 13 sites across Africa, Asia and the Americas and was scheduled to end in 2015; however, the results were so convincing it was halted four years early.
1,763 HIV patients participated in the trials and were split into two groups for testing. In one, they immediately began a course of anti-retroviral drugs. In the other, the patients received treatment only after their white blood cell count dropped.
The results claim that in the group that immediately began treatment, there was only one case of transmission between negative partners. Conversely, there were 27 HIV transmissions in the other group.
Quarraisha Abdool Karim, HPTN co-principal investigator, said: “The HPTN 052 study provides compelling evidence for a new HIV prevention approach that links prevention and care efforts.”
“Strategies for scaling up knowledge of HIV status and increasing treatment coverage are critical next steps to realising the public health benefits of this finding.”
The HIV Prevention Trials Network conducted the controlled trial, known as HPTN 052, to evaluate the effectiveness of anti-retroviral therapy in preventing transmission.
The results are the first to indicate that treating an HIV-positive person can reduce the risk of sexual transmission of HIV to an uninfected partner.
Cohen, the principal investigator of the study, claimed the result was "excellent news".
He added: “The study was designed to evaluate the benefit to the sexual partner as well as the benefit to the HIV-infected person. This is the first randomised clinical trial to definitively indicate that an HIV-infected individual can reduce sexual transmission of HIV to an uninfected partner by beginning antiretroviral therapy sooner.”
HPTN 052, the study, began in 2005 at 13 sites across Africa, Asia and the Americas and was scheduled to end in 2015; however, the results were so convincing it was halted four years early.
1,763 HIV patients participated in the trials and were split into two groups for testing. In one, they immediately began a course of anti-retroviral drugs. In the other, the patients received treatment only after their white blood cell count dropped.
The results claim that in the group that immediately began treatment, there was only one case of transmission between negative partners. Conversely, there were 27 HIV transmissions in the other group.
Quarraisha Abdool Karim, HPTN co-principal investigator, said: “The HPTN 052 study provides compelling evidence for a new HIV prevention approach that links prevention and care efforts.”
“Strategies for scaling up knowledge of HIV status and increasing treatment coverage are critical next steps to realising the public health benefits of this finding.”
Billy Taylor
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