Antiretroviral treatment earlier in the course of HIV disease is both a life-saving and cost-effective

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Starting antiretroviral treatment earlier in the course of HIV disease is both a life-saving and cost-effective strategy, even in resource-strapped nations, according to a follow-up study published online September 20 in *PLoS Medicine*.

The development of highly active antiretroviral therapy (ART) in the mid-1990s transformed AIDS from a rapidly fatal illness to a chronic disease for those living in affluent countries. In 2003, a worldwide effort brought ART to developing countries, and by 2009, a third of eligible patients in low- and middle-income countries (5.3 of 14.6 million people in need) were receiving it.

Until 2009, the World Health Organization’s criterion for ART was either an AIDS-associated illness or a CD4+ cell count below 200 T cells/mm3(“standard ART”). However, on the eve of World AIDS Day that year, the WHO changed its cutoff to a CD4+ cell count below 350 (“early ART”).

Ref and Read more: https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/750207?sssdmh=dm1.720622&src=nldne

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