Early Therapy Will Not Lower Set Point

Beginning an early antiretroviral drug therapy regimen while CD4-cell counts are high and HIV viral loads are low does not lower the viral set point, the relatively steady level of virus in the body during the asymptomatic stage of HIV infection, French researchers report in the December 3 edition of the journal AIDS. Data were studied from 58 HIV-positive adults who began anti-HIV treatment during primary infection, achieved viral control, and then interrupted therapy. Their viral set point remained virtually the same as that of patients in early stage disease who never began treatment. 'The study did not provide strong evidence that it is necessary to treat patients diagnosed during primary HIV-1 infection'at least with current antiretroviral therapies'with the sole aim of reducing viremia in plasma,' lead researcher Loic Desquilbet concludes.