Scientists at Columbia University in New York have discovered that using an antiretroviral therapy based on efavirenz to treat children who have HIV infections can be effective without causing viral failure.
The study involved children who had achieved viral suppression with their HIV infections and confirmed that one efavirenz-based treatment could help the children without any viral failure risk.
Using these pediatric antiretroviral treatment programs has benefited children in sub-Saharan Africa with a notable decrease in mortality and morbidity with children who have HIV infections. The treatment programs are able to shift the patients to a chronic condition out of a rapidly fatal disease situation.
“There is little guidance available as to what clinicians ought to do when confronted with a child older than 3 years who has begun treatment with ritonavir-boosted lopinavir,” the study authors wrote. “As a result, it has been left to individual interpretation, and there are anecdotal reports of clinicians switching to efavirenz in the absence of data to support such a practice. This study provides evidence to support the safety and efficacy of switching to efavirenz, the recommended drug for children older than 3 years, among children with viral suppression.”
