Topics in HIV Medicine® - International AIDS Society-USA

International AIDS Society–USA
Topics in HIV Medicine
222 patients starting antiretroviral therapy
during primary HIV infection (60%)
or within 6 months of HIV seroconversion
(40%). Seventy percent of participants
reached a plasma HIV-1 RNA level
below the limits of detection within the
first year of infection. There was a
greater likelihood of reaching a plasma
HIV-1 RNA level below the limits of
detection for those treated during primary
HIV infection (hazard ratio, 0.73;
P=.057) than for those in the other
group.
QUEST Study
Kinloch and colleagues presented the
week-48 preliminary results of the
QUEST trial (Abstract 520), which evaluated
the virologic and immunologic outcomes
of patients with primary HIV-1
infection who initiated HAART for more
than 18 months, followed by randomization
to 6 months of continued
HAART with or without vaccines before
stopping antiretroviral therapy. Subjects
with 3 or fewer bands on Western blot
and with HIV viremia initiated fixedcombination
zidovudine/lamivudine,
abacavir, and amprenavir. The study
enrolled 148 subjects (90% male) with
a mean age of 33.9 years; median baseline
plasma HIV-1 RNA level and CD4+
count were 5.4 log 10 copies/mL and 517
cells/µL, respectively. At week 48, 28%
of patients had stopped treatment and
59% had revised their initial HAART
regimen. A median decrease in plasma
HIV-1 RNA level from baseline to week
48 of 5.3 log 10 copies/mL (range, 3.8 to
6.4 log 10 copies/mL; P