From theLoop21.com
Big news is on the horizon for people living with HIV/AIDS.
According to a new study by the United States National Institutes of Health, a person who takes antiretroviral drugs immediately after diagnosis, as opposed to when their health starts declining, can cut the risk of spreading the virus to unaffected partners by a whopping 96 percent.
The study, which sampled 1,763 couples in which one partner was infected, was abandoned four years early because the trial was so successful. HIV-positive patients were split into two groups. In one, participants were immediately given anti-retroviral drugs. The other group received the treatment after their white blood cell count fell. Among those who immediately started the anti-retroviral therapy, there was only one case of transmission between partners. In the other group there were 27 HIV transmissions.
