You Gotta Have HAART

Highly active antiretroviral therapy reduces liver-related mortality in adults infected with both HIV and hepatitis C, according to a German study in the November 22 edition of The Lancet. There are worries that anti-HIV medications may have toxic side effects on the liver, which could worsen hepatitis damage to the vital organ. But by studying clinical data from 285 HIV-HCV coinfected patients from 1990 to 2002, the researchers found that liver-related deaths dropped dramatically among the study patients after HAART was introduced in 1995. Increases in CD4-cell counts were strongly associated with the lowered death risk, according to the analysis. Although 13.8% of the HAART patients reported drug-related liver toxicity problems, none died from the complications.