HIV Digest	HIV Digest Archive

A team from the Research Institute for Genetic and Human Therapy (RIGHT) released study findings suggesting that patients who have infected with the HIV virus for several years can suspend their treatments without irreversible consequences. The data was presented at the 7th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in San Francisco.

Three years ago the team was able to stop treatment for a patient in Berlin who had taken the medication since becoming infected. They showed that treatment could also be interrupted among those with long-term infection.

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The group stopped treatment in two groups of HIV positive patients who had followed a therapy for the two previous years who had equal levels CD4 and CD8 cells.

The members of the first group was treated with three medications while the second group was treated with only two, hydroxyurea and didanosine.

The objective was to stop the treatment for eight weeks if the patients did not suffer a recurrence. In the first group, the majority of the patients had to resume their medical regime after six weeks, while none of those in the second group had to resume treatment before the end of the eight weeks.

Among the patients who were taking the three medications, the virus level climbed from 97 to 16,863 parts per milliliter at the start of the sixth week. But in the second group, the viral level climbed only from 843 to 1,896 parts per milliliter after eight weeks.

Although, the two researchers underlined that they need to confirm their results by studying a larger number of infected patients and determine which is the best therapy for the longest possible suspension.

Editor's Note: from the AFP