Levinia Crooks, CEO ASHM
Clinical posts from members and guests of the Australasian Society for HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexual Health Medicine (ASHM) from various international medical and scientific conferences on HIV, AIDS, viral hepatitis, and sexual health.
Treatment as Prevention - HPTN052
The ground breaking HPTN052 trial was presented as a complete study yesterday. True to form, the data is compelling. Treatment prevents onward transmission. In a very small number of linked transmissions cause was attributable to not having drug on board, treatment failure and viral rebound, or transmission occurring very soon after treatment commencement, before viral suppression was achieved.
HPTN052 followed many thousands of patients in couples. Monitoring transmission ostensibly between partners. Unlinked transmissions, from a partner other than the study partner (who was on treatment) were more common than linked transmissions. Viral suppression is confirmed as the holy grail. Achieving this is the challenge.