The World Health Organization’s new recommendation that people with HIV begin treatment with antiretroviral drugs sooner rather than later doesn’t go far enough, according to a prominent immunologist at the University of California, San Francsico Medical Center.
On Sunday, the WHO changed its position on how long people should wait before they start taking ART, a trio of virus-fighting drugs known as the HIV cocktail. In 2010, the health experts said treatment should begin after the number of CD4 immune system cells dropped below 350 per cubic millimeter of blood. Now they say the threshold should be 500 cells per cubic mm of blood. The health agency estimated the change would increase the number of people eligible for ART from 9.7 million to 26 million and avert 3 million deaths by 2025, according to a statement.
Brad Balukjian
Los Angeles Times
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