By Meaghan Lee Callaghan
Guidelines recommend that antiretroviral therapy (ART) be initiated as soon as possible after a person is diagnosed with HIV.
A group of researchers from Meharry Medical College, in Nashville, decided to investigate the impacts of ART initiation on the same day someone is diagnosed with HIV, which is their standard-of-care. In particular, they compared viral loads of patients with same-day initiation with patients who had lapsed in ART, and then also compared the demographics between groups.
Their findings not only show the importance of same-day initiation, researcher Jeffrey Reyes Villa, an MS student at San Juan Bautista School of Medicine, in Caguas, Puerto Rico, told Infectious Disease Special Edition, but also highlight how demographic and social determinants of health can both match the prevailing national trends and also differ based on hyper-local conditions.
The study is ongoing, Mr. Reyes Villa said. Lead author Vladimir Berthaud, MD, MPH, CPH, DTMH, FACP, FIDSA, the director of the Division of Infectious Diseases and the Meharry HIV Research and Training Facility, said they hope their findings can help to hone treatment of their local population in Nashville.
Their poster, “Rapid Initiation of Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) in an Underserved Minority Community,” was presented at ASM Microbe on Friday, June 20.
