WHO calls for earlier HIV care
U.N. health agency tightens previous recommendations
LONDON – People infected with the virus that causes AIDS should start treatment earlier than currently recommended, the World Health Organization said today.
The U.N. agency issued new guidance advising doctors to start giving patients AIDS drugs a year or two earlier than usual. The advice could double the number of people worldwide who qualify for treatment, adding an extra 3 to 5 million patients to the 5 million already awaiting AIDS drugs.
WHO’s previous HIV treatment advice was published in 2006. Since then, several studies have shown people with HIV who start drugs earlier than recommended have a better chance of surviving.
WHO now advises doctors to start HIV patients on drugs when their level of CD4 cells – a measure of the immune system – is about 350. Previously they said doctors should wait until patients’ levels hovered around 200. In most Western countries, doctors start treating HIV patients when their CD4 count is about 500.
David Ross, an AIDS expert at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said there is compelling evidence HIV patients should start treatment sooner. People with HIV who aren’t on AIDS drugs are more likely to catch a potentially fatal disease like tuberculosis or develop other complications when they do start the drugs, Ross said.
WHO’s new recommendations also advise pregnant women with HIV to take the drugs earlier and while breast-feeding. The agency also said countries should phase out the use of the commonly used AIDS drug stavudine because of its toxic side effects. If countries with large outbreaks adopt the guidance, many more people could live longer, healthier lives, said Hiroki Nakatani, a top WHO official in a statement.