Breaking the popular belief that prescription of antiretroviral drugs to an HIV infected patient slower the pace of sexual transmission, a breakthrough study done by a team of US researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has claimed that prescribing antiretroviral drugs to HIV-positive people can avert the risk of sexual transmission by a staggering 96%.

Started in April 2005, the clinical trial, encompassing 13 sites in nine countries enrolling 1,763 couples in which only one partner was HIV infected along with one US couple, has raised hope for a tangible solution to the percolating concern of spiraling HIV infection in the world.

Following U. S. treatment guidelines, the team inserted anti-HIV drugs to half of the sample group at a CD4 count level of below 500 and to the other group, same procedure was followed but below the CD4 level of 350, as per international guidelines.

During the follow through, the monitoring committee found 39 new HIV infections, out of which 28 came from person’s partner, belonging to the second group, and remaining from other sources.

Moreover, the team led by Dr. Myron Cohen of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has proved that timely diagnosis of HIV infection is imperative to reduce the risk of sexual transmission and further, can substantially reduce the incidence rate of HIV at global level.