Dispatch: No Duh: HAART Proven to Reduce HIV Infection

By ACSH Staff — Jul 19, 2010

On a more positive note, data collected from HIV patients in the Canadian province of British Columbia show that treatment with the combination anti-HIV drug therapy known as “highly active antiretroviral therapy” (HAART) has reduced the province’s HIV infection rate by half since 1996. Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse, said in a statement:

This study strengthens the evidence that maximizing HAART coverage within current medical guidelines will help to curb the spread of HIV. The agency funded the study. These findings are especially important since new HIV cases have remained stubbornly steady in the United States at a rate of about 56,000 per year for the past 10 years.

ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross is not surprised. “I think we all sort of knew that the more HIV patients get on HAART, the fewer transmissions will occur, but now we have evidence proving the efficacy of the therapy,” he says. “The mechanism seems clear: reduced viral load means reduced communicability. However, maybe giving patients a cocktail of drugs that requires taking several different pills three to eight times a day inspires patients to change their behavior as far as safe sex practices and intravenous drug use are concerned.”