Researchers from UCSF presented data from a study designed to assess the efficacy of a four-drug combination -- ddI/d4T/nelfinavir/hydroxyurea -- for patients with "early" HIV infection (defined as asymptomatic patients with a T-cell, or CD4, count above 500) or for recent HIV seroconverters (people who had been infected within 120 days of study entry).

Twenty patients with early HIV infection and sixteen patients with primary HIV infection were enrolled. All received the prescribed doses of d4T/ddI/nelfinavir, and took 500 mg of hydroxyurea twice-a-day. Baseline T-cell counts and viral loads were 745 cells and 10,300 copies/ml for those with early HIV infection, and 483 cells and 162,000 copies/ml for those with recent primary HIV infection. After 8 weeks of treatment, T-cell counts were 657 and 497 respectively, thus showing no statistically significant change. However, the CD4 cell percentage did increase from 33.8% to 39% in the early group, and from 26.3% to 37.4% in the seroconverter group. Ninety-five percent of subjects with early infection and 88% of those with recent primary infection had undetectable viral loads (below 50 copies). The study authors concluded that the four drug regimen was well-tolerated, and was a viable option for recently infected patients.