HIV cure, symptoms & treatment: WHO pushes early medication for patients

The World Health Organization (WHO) issued new guidelines this week to enable millions more HIV-positive patients to have access to medication, The New York Times reports. WHO recommends that patients should be placed on antiretroviral therapy (ART), composed of three drugs, immediately after they are diagnosed. Additionally, WHO says that those who are at risk for HIV should be given protective doses of similar medications.

Reuters reports that according to early clinical trials, those who have used medication shortly after diagnosis lived longer, and decreases the risk of transmission to their partners. WHO's goal is to eliminate the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

Daily Mail reports that according to Dr. Michael Brady, medical director at the charity the Terrence Higgins Trust, "There is now clear evidence of the benefits of starting HIV therapy as early as possible. Effective treatment not only maximises the individual's health but also prevents transmission to others."

Reuters reports that according to Michel Sidibe, executive director of UNAIDS, "Everybody living with HIV has the right to life-saving treatment. The new guidelines are a very important step towards ensuring that all people living with HIV have immediate access to anti-retroviral treatment."

He explained, "According to UNAIDS estimates, expanding ART to all people living with HIV and expanding prevention choices can help avert 21 million AIDS-related deaths and 28 million new infections by 2030."

Dr. Brady explained, "One in four people living with HIV remain undiagnosed and therefore not able to access the benefits of treatment. Our new treatment guidelines mean that every case of undiagnosed HIV is already a late diagnosis."

Following these guidelines, the demand for ART drugs are expected to increase, as UNAIDS estimated 10 million more people could be helped by this new directive. HIV drugs are commonly manufactured by Gilead Sciences (GILD.O), ViiV Healthcare, which is majority-owned by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L), and several other Indian generic manufacturers.

The New York Times reports that according to UNAIDS, about $22 billion is spent on AIDS in poor and middle-income countries, and about 50 percent of the total cost are contributions from donors.

"We can make the impossible possible," said Dr. Deborah L. Birx, the United States global AIDS coordinator and head of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. "If we can demonstrate that this would break the back of the epidemic, I think people will step up."

In 2012, there was an estimated 914,826 individuals living with HIV infection in the United States alone. In 2013, around 2.1 million new cases of AIDS were recorded, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. This disease has taken 39 million lives since the epidemic began, and those who are being affected the most are from Sub-Saharan Africa.