Can highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) be stopped without risk?
At the 39th ICAAC, Anthony S. Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), described an experimental trial whereby successful HAART was discontinued. Dr. Fauci’s plenary presentation was entitled “Host Factors in the Pathogenesis of HIV Disease.” He reported on 18 HIV positive people who had had undetectable HIV viral loads for one to three years due to successful HAART. Twelve of the 18 also had taken interleukin 2 (IL-2, or Proleukin) in the past, as part of an experimental anti-HIV therapy to boost CD4 cell counts and to “flush out” the reservoir of immune cells latently infected with HIV. In a highly experimental study, HAART was discontinued in all 18 persons. Not unexpectedly, all 18 experienced rapid viral rebound. Dr. Fauci and his colleagues were somewhat surprised by two of the 12 volunteers who had taken IL-2: Dr. Fauci was unable to culture any HIV from over 150 million of their blood mononuclear cells. He thought the IL-2 had “f
