International Antiviral Society-USA calls for treatment for all who test HIV-positive

"An international group of scientists on Sunday called for all adults who test positive for HIV to be treated with antiretroviral drugs right away rather than waiting for their immune systems to weaken," Agence France-Presse reports. The guidelines, issued by the International Antiviral Society-USA, "are based on new trial data and drug regimens that have become available in the last two years which warrant an 'update to guidelines for antiretroviral treatment in HIV-infected adults in resource-rich settings,'" the news agency writes (7/22). "In addition, data have shown that suppressing HIV reduces the risk of an infected person passing the virus to another person," according to Reuters. The guidelines, which "echo those issued in March by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services," were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association at the start of the International AIDS Society's 2012 conference, the news service notes (Beasley, 7/22).