Early retroviral use beneficial for AIDS patients with serious complications
May 16th, 2009 - 12:39 pm ICT by ANIWashington, May 16 (ANI): Early retroviral use can significantly benefit AIDS patients with serious complications, suggest researchers.
Most patients don’t seek medical attention until they have a serious AIDS-related condition.
The research team from Stanford University School of Medicine showed that AIDS patients can reduce complications risk by half if they get antiretroviral treatment early on.
“This study shows that it is life-saving to treat those persons with antiretroviral drugs while they are still in the hospital. The results of this study will change practices throughout the world,” said Dr Mitch Katz, San Francisco’s director of health, who was not involved in the study.
Dr Andrew Zolopa, associate professor of infectious diseases and geographic medicine at Stanford and first author of the study said that growing number of the patients, particularly minorities, youth, injection-drug users and those in poor rural areas, are being diagnosed late in the disease process when they’ve already developed life-threatening conditions.
“A lot of people wait, thinking, ‘Let’s get the patient out of acute crisis, and then we’ll deal with the underlying HIV infection later,’” said Zolopa.
“But that answer is wrong. If we’re more aggressive with HIV drugs, we can reduce AIDS-related complications and death by 50 percent. It’s a substantial clinical benefit,” he added.
The study involved 262 patients at 39 sites across the United States, from Puerto Rico to Seattle. They all had one or more opportunistic infection, with the most common ones being pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia, cryptococcal meningitis and serious bacterial infections.
They found that in patients treated early, there were 20 (14.2 percent) who died or developed another significant AIDS-related complication, compared with 34 patients in the deferred group who died or suffered a new complication.
In addition, the patients in the early treatment group saw a much swifter recovery of their immune systems.
According to Zolopa, the study results probably provide some guidance for patients in developing countries, though each country would have to determine its own strategy for initiating ARVs in patients with advanced AIDS.
The study appears in the online journal PLoS-ONE. (ANI)
- Liver-related problems found among Goa HIV patients: Study - Apr 20, 2011
- Tracking evolution of deadly fungus which is one of world's major killers - May 04, 2011
- Dip in AIDS deaths: UN report (Dec 1 is World AIDS Day) - Nov 30, 2011
- New test hastens diagnosis of top cause of AIDS-related deaths - Mar 05, 2011
- Vaginal gel 'can cut HIV risk by 39pct in women' - Jul 20, 2010
- Anti-retroviral drugs may curb AIDS spread in 5yrs - Feb 22, 2010
- Ranbaxy's South African arm bags $133 million order - Dec 20, 2010
- Cancer drug successfully purges hidden HIV virus - Mar 09, 2012
- Aid appeal to combat HIV/AIDS in Myanmar - Dec 06, 2011
- Frequent alcohol use fans faster HIV spread - May 14, 2010
- Standard re-treatment regimen for TB 'failing' in developing world - Mar 16, 2011
- HIV street drug 'Whoonga' is South Africa's latest high - Jan 28, 2011
- Patients with HIV infection at greater risk of developing heart failure - Apr 26, 2011
- The Untouchables: Children living with HIV, AIDS in Manipur (Dec 1 is World AIDS Day) - Dec 01, 2010
- Hepatitis C: Cure and control, right now! - Jul 29, 2010
Tags: aids patients, antiretroviral drugs, associate professor, bacterial infections, clinical benefit, dr andrew, geographic medicine, hiv drugs, hiv infection, infectious diseases, injection drug users, katz, medical attention, meningitis, opportunistic infection, pneumonia, rural areas, school of medicine, stanford university school, stanford university school of medicine