HIV drugs should be given at diagnosis, major trial suggests

BBC reports HIV drugs should be given at the moment of diagnosis, according to a major trial that could change the way millions of people are treated.

People currently get antiretroviral therapy only when their white blood cell levels drop.

But a US-led study has now been cut short as early treatment was so beneficial for patients.

The United Nations Aids agency has called for everyone to get immediate access to the drugs.

Around 35 million people are living with HIV and more than 2 million start antiretroviral therapy each year.

The discovery of drugs to attack the virus has profoundly changed the way the disease is treated.

But there has been fierce debate about when treatment should start.

World Health Organization guidelines say treatment should start when there are fewer than 500 white blood cells in every cubic millimetre of blood.

The trial on 4,685 people in 35 countries, organised by the US National Institutes of Health, compared this approach with immediate treatment.

The trial started in 2011 and was due to run until the end of 2016.

But an interim analysis of the data showed that cases of Aids, deaths and complications, such as kidney or liver disease, had already been halved by early treatment.

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