Helen Branswell
Canadian Press

BC experts to test idea that expanding AIDS treatment will cut spread of HIV

TORONTO — AIDS experts are going to test a theory that expanding treatment with antiretroviral drugs will dramatically cut transmission of the HIV virus.

The head of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS announced Wednesday that a pilot study will be mounted in Vancouver to try to test the notion that substantially reducing the number of people who have infectious loads of virus in their blood could significantly slow the growth of the pandemic.

"The number of new cases that could be averted is astronomical," Dr. Julio Montaner said in outlining the hypothesis at a session of the International AIDS Conference.

When taken correctly, antiretroviral drugs suppress to undetectable levels the amount of HIV virus in the bloodstream. Montaner's idea, outlined earlier this month in a review published by the journal Lancet, is that by putting as many HIV positive people as possible on the drugs, new infections would plummet.

Such a plan would require substantial upfront spending to avert the huge down-the-road costs associated with new infections. Montaner said his centre estimates that for every $1 spent on treatment, $2 in health-care costs can be avoided.

But substantial challenges exist. It is estimated, for instance, that only 10 per cent of people worldwide who are HIV positive are aware they carry the virus. Unless more people agree to be tested — and go on the onerous drug therapy — Montaner's plan could not work.

And then there is the issue of getting drugs to the people who need them. Massive infusions of funds from donor countries and foundations have led to a rapid scale-up of treatment in developing countries over the past couple of years.

But Dr. Kevin de Cock, HIV director for the World Health Organization, said the Geneva-based agency estimates 6.8 million people with HIV in middle and low income countries need antiretroviral treatment now, but only 1.65 million are on the lifesaving drugs.

© The Canadian Press, 2006