Study confirms drug combo prevents AIDS
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Combination treatment with anti-AIDS drugs cut the rate of progression from infection with HIV to AIDS by 86 percent compared to patients not receiving treatment, British researchers said on Friday.
They found that the effectiveness of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), a combination of at least three agents from two drug classes, increased with time.
“Our results indicate that HAART reduced the rate of progression to AIDS by 86 percent and that its effectiveness compared with no treatment increased with time since initiation,” said Dr. Jonathan Sterne, of the University of Bristol, in southwestern England, who headed the research team.
But HAART was less beneficial for patients believed to be infected through intravenous drug use.
The anti-AIDS drug combinations have transformed the illness in Western countries from a death sentence to a chronic disease, but doctors have been concerned about long-term impact.
The treatments consist of drugs that interrupt the life cycle of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in different ways, fighting the rapidly mutating virus on several fronts at once.
HIV destroys the immune system and leaves the body vulnerable to a variety of life-threatening diseases, including opportunistic infections, such as tuberculosis.
The scientists studied more than 3,200 patients involved in a Swiss study after January 1996 when HAART first became available in Switzerland.
They compared the impact on patients of HAART, with dual therapy and no drug treatment. The results are reported in The Lancet medical journal.
“The very large benefits of HAART that are achievable in developed countries should remind us of the urgency of providing treatment for millions of people who could benefit in other parts of the world, particularly sub-Saharan Africa,” Sterne said.
About 39 million people worldwide are living with HIV/AIDS. Sub-Saharan Africa is the worst affected region.
About 1 million of the 6 million people in poor countries who need the life-saving drugs are receiving them, according to the World Health Organisation.
It had hoped to have 3 million people on treatment by the end of 2005 but admitted in June it would not meet the target.
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