Study: Early treatment reduces HIV risk

LOS ANGELES -- In what is being hailed as a landmark breakthrough in HIV prevention, a new study has shown that giving anti-AIDS drugs to HIV-positive people can reduce the transmission of the virus to spouses and partners by 96 percent, U.S. researchers said yesterday.

Though some uncontrolled studies of populations had previously suggested that treatment of patients with antiretroviral drugs could slow transmission of the virus, the new results announced by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases represent the first large clinical trial to confirm those suggestions.

In fact, the results of the study of nearly 1,800 couples in the United States and, primarily, southern Africa were so dramatic that the study's sponsors decided to terminate it prematurely -- four years before its scheduled completion in 2015.

The study shows that not only does early treatment of HIV infections benefit the patient's own health, but also "there is clearly a benefit of a profound decrease in the probability of . . . transmission to his or her own partner," Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of NIAID, said in a news conference.

Antiretroviral treatment "can definitely decrease rates of transmission, and we can get this disease under control," said Dr. Kathleen Squires, chairwoman of the HIV Medicine Association and director of the division of infectious diseases at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.

"This is scientific proof that this is true," said Squires, who was not involved in the study.

"This shows us that if we can identify the people who are infected and give them access to therapy, we can dramatically reduce the number of new infections in this country," she said. Unfortunately, she added, there are waiting lists for the drugs in many states because of the shortage of funds for health care.