Treatment Interruptions Do Not Prime Immune Systems

A study of 133 HIV-positive Swiss and Spanish patients has shown that HIV treatment interruptions do not help prime the body's immune system to better recognize and destroy HIV, adding to growing evidence that there are no long-term clinical benefits from treatment breaks. Four cycles of eight weeks on, two weeks off treatment followed by an indefinite halt to anti-HIV drugs provided no immunological benefit, according to the study, published in the May 26 edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine. Only 17% of the patients maintained viral loads under 5,000 copies at the one-year mark of the study, and just 8% held viral loads low after 96 weeks.