From the NY Times:
People infected with the virus that causes AIDS are far less likely to infect their sexual partners if they are put on treatment immediately instead of waiting until their immune systems begin to deteriorate, according to preliminary results from a large clinical trial released Thursday.
Patients with H.I.V. were 96 percent less likely to pass on the infection if they were taking antiretroviral drugs — a finding that is so overwhelming that it is likely to change the way American AIDS doctors treat patients and what treatment policies are adopted by the World Health Organization and other countries, said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which paid for the trial.
The data was so convincing that the trial, scheduled to last until 2015, is effectively being ended early.
There have been previous studies, notably among drug abusers in San Francisco and Vancouver, British Columbia, that concluded that starting patients on drugs immediately would stop them from infecting others.
Those studies led Unaids, the United Nations AIDS-fighting agency, to adopt “test and treat” as its goal last year; the policy encourages doctors to start people on treatment as soon as they test positive for H.I.V. However, this is the first evidence from a randomized clinical trial, the gold standard in medical research.
AIDS prevention specialists not connected to the trial were enthusiastic.
