Results from a recent British study indicate that low levels of residual HIV – below the level that is a goal for antiretroviral therapy – can still lead to treatment failure.

Based on their results, the study authors suggested that even lower cutoff levels for residual HIV in the blood may be necessary to avoid treatment failure.

The goal of antiretroviral therapy is to reduce viral loads (amount of HIV in the blood) to levels that are undetectable with most tests, usually less than 50 copies per milliliter. Achieving an…

Results from a recent study indicate that individuals who rapidly suppress HIV during their first year of antiretroviral therapy recover CD4 cells faster and better. Individuals with slower declines during the first year and throughout therapy regained significantly fewer CD4 cells.

The study authors also found that periods of detectable HIV raise the chances of disease progression.

Based on their results, the authors concluded that the rate of viral load decline after starting treatment, rather than just whether HIV is detectable or not, is important for predicting a person’s immune…

Results from a recent Brazilian study indicate that, even when antiretroviral therapy in HIV-positive children is only partially effective at reducing viral loads, most children experience improved CD4 cell counts.

“Our study showed a good capacity for immunological recovery in pediatric patients infected by HIV, with CD4 response maintenance in subsequent years,” said Dr. Lílian Diniz, lead investigator of the study, in correspondence with The AIDS Beacon.

“Children in treatment without viral response are still able to recover their CD4 [percentages] to good levels,” she added. “Immunological and virological response…

Results of a new study suggest that HIV controllers have unusually low levels of certain regulatory cells that normally suppress the immune system. This, in turn, may lead to a high level of general immune system activation, allowing them to control their HIV.

The researchers suggested that this high level of immune system activation may also be responsible for some of the inflammatory diseases that are more common in HIV controllers, such as thickening of the arteries and a depletion of CD4 (white blood) cells that can cause progression to…

Results of a new study suggest that the rate at which an HIV-positive person will progress to AIDS may be similar to the rate of progression in the person who passed the virus on to them.

“If an untreated individual has been infected by someone who developed AIDS rapidly, the likelihood that he/she will develop AIDS rapidly is higher than was previously thought,” said Dr. Samuel Alizon, lead author of the study, in email correspondence with The AIDS Beacon.

It is still largely a mystery why some people with HIV…