Starting antiretroviral therapy early can reduce the risk of HIV infection by 93%. An international study carried out over 10 years has just shown this.
Treating HIV infection to prevent further contamination, it works! This is news that should inform the International AIDS Conference, which is being held in Durban (South Africa) from July 18 to 22. A clinical trial conducted in 9 countries has just delivered its final results. They are also published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Administered early enough, antiretrovirals prevent transmission of the virus.
46 contaminations
This study, named HPTN 052, began in 2005. 1,760 HIV-discordant couples, that is to say where one partner is HIV-positive and the other is not, have been followed up to date. hui. Antiretroviral treatment was initiated according to two protocols: half of the people infected with HIV received the drugs as soon as they were diagnosed, while their lymphocytes were preserved; the other half received treatment after a slight drop in lymphocytes.
During follow-up, 78 partners were infected with HIV. 46 cases were linked to relationships within the couple. Only 3 belonged to the group where treatment was started early. These results therefore show that antiretrovirals provide reliable and lasting protection against the virus. In this, they could constitute a new part of the TASP approach (treatment as prevention), which consists of offering drugs to HIV-positive people to prevent possible transmission.
96% fewer transmissions
Researchers have quantified the benefit of rapid initiation of antiretrovirals. Compared to a delayed prescription, the risk of contamination is reduced by 93%. Indeed, when the replication of the virus in the body is interrupted, this transmission no longer takes place. Thus, the effective transmissions were 96% less numerous.
“The HPTN 052 study confirms the urgent need to treat people infected with HIV from diagnosis, in order to protect their health and public health,” said Myron Cohen, co-author of the study, who welcomed the investment participants and fellow researchers.
The light treatment remains effective
Heavy in side effects, antiretrovirals must be taken every day by people with HIV. A heavy treatment which causes many abandonments. Reducing it to four days a week, instead of seven, seems to be effective. The National Agency for Research on AIDS and Viral Hepatitis (ANRS) conducted a study in this direction on 100 patients. For 96 of them, the decrease in intake did not cause an increase in viral load, they explained to the International AIDS Conference in Durban. The others restored their viral load after a return to the usual pattern. “Analysis of the adherence studies showed that the 4/7 day program was very well followed and accepted by the patients. In more than 90% of cases, the intake conforms to the prescription, ”comments Dr. Pierre de Truchis, who led the work. These conclusions will still need to be validated in a randomized trial. 640 patients will soon be recruited and will benefit from reduced treatment for 48 weeks.
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