14 DAY TRIAL // Recent scientific studies show that the treatment for children infected with AIDS has to start as soon after birth as possible, in order to avoid the 48-week deadline that children infected with HIV face. Usually, doctors wait for symptoms such as the weakening of the immune system before they start therapy. But new surveys say that caregivers should act aggressively in preventing AIDS, by testing and starting antiretroviral therapy (ART) on newborns at high risk of developing the disease.
"HIV devastates the nascent immune systems of infants very quickly, yet too many HIV-infected infants do not get tested for the virus, get tested too late or get tested but lack access to lifesaving antiretroviral drugs. The results of CHER are a clarion call to scale up widespread early HIV testing of at-risk infants and to make ART immediately accessible to all infants who test positive," argued National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) director, Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.
CHER stands for Children with HIV Early Antiretroviral Therapy study, a survey sponsored by NIAID. Some South African health departments also contributed to the effort, which saw the publishing of its first batch of data in July 2007. The echo of the research was far-reaching, as proven by the fact that the World Health Organization (WHO) modified its guidelines about treating children with AIDS accordingly.
"The new WHO guidelines will profoundly improve the survival rate and quality of life of infants born with HIV. We are excited that we know the best time to begin treating HIV-infected infants; the challenge now for the global community is to ensure that all HIV-infected infants who need ART receive it soon enough," adds NIAID Division of AIDS chief of the Pediatric Medicine, Ed Handelsman.
New study results show that immediate treatment decreases the risks of children with HIV dying in the first 48 weeks of life by as much as 75 percent. Furthermore, the children in the group that received immediate testing and treatment were 4 times less likely to develop symptoms associated to HIV-related diseases, than those in the control group.