One Patient’s Story Illuminates a Whole
Situation: Information and Commentary
Tae-Wook Chun, a researcher at the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy
and Infectious Diseases, gave a fascinating talk at the Vienna HIV reservoirs
workshop. He had a patient who had been HIV+ for almost ten years, was being
treated using HAART (Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy) and had the lowest
viral load ever recorded in Dr. Chun’s lab. The patient had rarely ever even had
a viral blip (a shortlived increase in viral load). Chun was using special tests
to monitor the patient’s viral load that are much more sensitive than the viral
load tests many people with AIDS receive in their doctors’ offices. Even with
these sensitive tests, this patient’s viral load was tiny, tiny. The patient
had been treated aggressively and early in his HIV infection ten years
before.
and Infectious Diseases, gave a fascinating talk at the Vienna HIV reservoirs
workshop. He had a patient who had been HIV+ for almost ten years, was being
treated using HAART (Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy) and had the lowest
viral load ever recorded in Dr. Chun’s lab. The patient had rarely ever even had
a viral blip (a shortlived increase in viral load). Chun was using special tests
to monitor the patient’s viral load that are much more sensitive than the viral
load tests many people with AIDS receive in their doctors’ offices. Even with
these sensitive tests, this patient’s viral load was tiny, tiny. The patient
had been treated aggressively and early in his HIV infection ten years
before.
The patient decided to quit his AIDS drugs.
Click HERE to read the full article about this study at http://aidspolicyproject.blogspot.com/
Article courtesy of AIDS Policy Project