AIDS Study Called 2011 'Breakthrough'

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This is the VOA Special English Health Report, from http://voaspecialenglish.com | http://facebook.com/voalearningenglish The journal Science chose an AIDS study as the twenty-eleven "Breakthrough of the Year." The study found that antiretroviral drugs can greatly lower the risk of spreading HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. It showed that infected people with early treatment were ninety-six percent less likely to infect their partners.The study was a clinical trial known as HPTN 052. Myron Cohen led an international team that began the study in two thousand seven. But Dr. Cohen says the work really began twenty years ago: "We had a strong suspicion based on all the biological studies we had done that when we treat people and lower the concentration of HIV in the blood and secretions, we were rendering them less contagious. But we didn't understand the magnitude of the benefit."Dr. Cohen heads the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases paid for the study.It involved heterosexual couples in nine countries in Africa, Asia and the Americas. The results have already had an effect on government policies. Those changes include treating HIV-infected people when their immune systems are still relatively healthy. Dr. Cohen says the study "has generated policy changes at the level of the United States and the World Health Organization and UNAIDS. And it's inspire

Published 2012-02-07 · Watch on YouTube ↗
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