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Jun09

Treating HIV sooner would save South African lives and money from HIV

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If South Africa followed a new World Health Organization recommendation to give antiretroviral therapy to people with HIV when they were still at a higher level of health, it would reduce new infections, lengthen thousands of lives, and recoup the government's investment by 2026, according to new research.
In 2009, the WHO recommended that people start ART when a key measure of immune system strength, the CD4+ cell counts, reaches a concentration of 350 per microliter of blood. South Africa has instead decided to stick with the old standard of waiting until only 200 cells per microliter remain, reflecting a more compromised immune system.
The reason why the higher up-front investment in ART ultimately would save South Africa money and lives, the authors wrote, is because more aggressive ART treatment would curb the epidemic's spread. Reduced infectivity from the drugs would outweigh the longer period of time in which HIV-infected people would be alive and therefore able to spread the virus.

"While initial costs of adopting the new guidelines will be greater because of the increased number of people now eligible for treatment, in the long run costs would be saved because of the reduced number of new infections," they wrote.



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