AIDS patients test negative after drugs

California scientists say some HIV patients treated with antiretroviral therapy soon after infection tested negative for the virus.

California scientists say some HIV patients treated with antiretroviral therapy soon after infection tested negative for the virus.The negative test results were found on six of 87 patients tested, the leader of the research team told the XV International AIDS Conference in Bangkok Monday.”First, these patients are not cured,” said C. Bradley Hare, assistant clinical professor of medicine at the University of California-San Francisco’s Positive Health Program.”When these patients went off therapy, HIV virus levels rebounded. These results do show that with effective early treatment that reduces the virus to very low levels, the immune system may have less antibody response to HIV.”He said the 87 patients who qualified for the study must have started antiretroviral therapy within 28 days of entry into the study. They also must have achieved and maintained for at least 24 weeks a level of virus in their blood below the level of detectability using very sensitive viral load testing.At some point during their follow-up, six patients tested negative for the HIV virus using standard HIV antibody tests. (Source: United Press, July 2004)