Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
HIV Patients Should Be Treated Upon Diagnosis, Study Finds
People with H.I.V. should be put on antiretroviral drugs as soon as they learn they are infected, federal health officials said Wednesday as they announced that they were halting the largest ever clinical trial of early treatment because its benefits were already so clear. The study was stopped more than a year early because preliminary data already showed that those who got treatment immediately were 53 percent less likely to die during the trial or develop AIDS or a serious illness than those who waited. (McNeil Jr., 5/27)
A major international study says HIV patients shouldn't delay in seeking treatment: Starting medication soon after diagnosis helps keep people healthy longer. People who started anti-AIDS drugs while their immune system was strong were far less likely to develop AIDS or other serious illnesses than if they waited until blood tests showed their immune system was starting to weaken, the U.S. National Institutes of Health announced Wednesday. (Neergaard, 4/27)
