Better for Your Brain

Here's yet another reason to talk with your health care team about possibly starting antiretroviral therapy earlier than current guidelines call for -- it might help protect against an array of HIV-related neurological ailments. HIV enters the brain soon after infection, and the longer it remains unchecked by anti-HIV meds the more damage it can cause in terms of impaired thinking, loss of memory, and poor motor control, Scripps Research Institute scientists report in the June 19 issue of the journal AIDS. Animal studies show that antiretroviral treatment started soon after infection not only reduced virus to undetectable levels in the brains of treated monkeys but also significantly reduced levels of interferon-alpha, a brain chemical that can cause neurological and behavioral changes.