Updated DHHS Guidelines on HIV Treatment

Key revisions focus on HIV treatment for all, HIV management in older patients, the coadministration of new hepatitis C drugs with antiretrovirals, and the timing of ART initiation in patients with tuberculosis.

On March 27, 2012, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released updated HIV treatment guidelines. Key revisions and additions are as follows:

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) is recommended more emphatically than previously for all HIV-infected individuals, irrespective of CD4-cell count. The strength of the recommendation varies according to pretreatment CD4-cell count: AI for patients with CD4 counts <350 cells/mm³, AII for those with CD4 counts of 350 to 500 cells/mm³, and BIII for those with CD4 counts >500 cells/mm³. This revised recommendation is based on a growing body of evidence demonstrating the harmful effects of ongoing HIV replication and on the results of the HPTN 052 study, which demonstrated that ART significantly re…

Reviewing Author

Charles B. Hicks, MD

Disclosures

Consultant / Advisory boardGilead Sciences; ViiV; Merck

RoyaltiesUpToDate, Inc.

Grant / Research supportNIH; Department of Health and Human Services

Charles B. Hicks, MD

Disclosures

Consultant / Advisory boardGilead Sciences; ViiV; Merck

RoyaltiesUpToDate, Inc.

Grant / Research supportNIH; Department of Health and Human Services

Updated DHHS Guidelines on HIV Treatment

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Reviewing Author