Victoria Hounsfield
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 to Prevent HIV: Opening Plenary HIV&AIDS 2015
Prof Myron Cohen, the lead investigator of the multinational HPTN052 trial kicked off today's Plenary clinical presentations with Treatment to Prevent HIV: Does timing matter?
Great overview mentioning that risk of transmission is explicitly related to viral load.
His breaking news: HPTN052 trial has found an overall 93% risk reduction of contracting HIV in ITT analysis of sero-discordant couples. And even better news was that the 8 linked partner infections that occurred whilst their partner was on ARTs occurred either before ART was commenced or when the partner was actually failing ART therapy (i.e. had a detectable viral load).
This means NO infections were observed when the partners' HIV replication was suppressed.
He then highlighted that a significant proportion (19-52%) of HIV transmissions occur during early/ acute infections, adding much weight to the argument for very early ART treatment.
His message was applauded and was loud and clear to "Start ART Now!"