WASHINGTON, May 12, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Men and
women infected with HIV reduced the risk of transmitting the virus
to their sexual partners through initiation of oral antiretroviral
therapy (ART), according to findings from a large multinational
clinical study conducted by the HIV Prevention Trials Network
(HPTN), a global partnership dedicated to reducing the transmission
of HIV through cutting-edge biomedical, behavioral, and structural
interventions.
The study, known as HPTN 052, was designed to evaluate whether
immediate versus delayed use of ART by HIV-infected individuals
would reduce transmission of HIV to their HIV-uninfected partners
and potentially benefit the HIV-infected individual as well.
Findings from the study were reviewed by an independent Data and
Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB).The DSMB recommended that the
results be released as soon as possible and that the findings be
shared with study participants and investigators. The DSMB
concluded that initiation of ART by HIV-infected individuals
substantially protected their HIV-uninfected sexual partners from
acquiring HIV infection, with a 96 percent reduction in risk of HIV
transmission. HPTN 052 is the first randomized clinical trial to
show that treating an HIV-infected individual with ART can reduce
the risk of sexual transmission of HIV to an uninfected
partner.
“This is excellent news,” said Dr. Myron Cohen, HPTN 052
Principal Investigator and Associate Vice Chancellor for Global
Health and Director of the Institute of Global Health and
Infectious Diseases at the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill. “The study was designed to evaluate the benefit to the sexual
partner as well as the benefit to the HIV-infected person. This is
the first randomized clinical trial to definitively indicate that
an HIV-infected individual can reduce sexual transmission of HIV to
an uninfected partner by beginning antiretroviral therapy sooner.
HPTN recognizes the significant contr
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