Study: HIV-Infected Babies Can Be Saved

Updated 7:13 PM ET July 24, 2007

By MERAIAH FOLEY

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - HIV-infected babies given antiretroviral
drugs in the first weeks of life were four times more likely to survive
than those left untreated, raising hopes that more young lives can be
saved, new research suggests.

Drugs given to infected infants in South Africa even though they
appeared healthy helped them live longer than babies who started
therapy after showing signs of disease, according to early results of a
study sponsored by the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases.

World Health Organization guidelines now call for medicines to be
administered only after signs of disease or a weakening immune system
are observed. But the South African study was so promising that its
findings were being released to the WHO and other health officials so
they could consider modifying the recommendations.

"It's very good news for young patients and parents," co-author Dr.
Avy Violari of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg told
The Associated Press on Tuesday. She was to present the findings
Wednesday at an International AIDS Society Conference in Sydney.

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