HAART Reduces Flu-Related Hospitalizations and Deaths

The success of highly active antiretroviral therapy in repairing the body's immune system has translated into fewer influenza hospitalizations and deaths, according to a study in the November 1 edition of Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. According to the researchers, before the availability of HAART, 48 of every 1,000 U.S. hospitalizations of HIV-positive Medicaid enrollees were due to the flu. That number fell to just five hospitalizations per 1,000 after HAART became available in the mid 1990s, and no flu-related deaths were recorded after the advent of multidrug therapy. The researchers still urge all HIV-positive people to receive an annual flu vaccine, because HIV patients are at a high risk for serious flu complications.