Updated Treatment Guidelines Address Adults, Adolescents, and Pregnant Women

In 1996, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Kaiser Family Foundation convened a panel on "Clinical Practices for the Treatment of HIV" to develop guidelines for the clinical management of HIV-infected adults, adolescents and pregnant women. There are separate HIV antiviral treatment guidelines, one on treating adults and adolescents and a second on treating pregnant women, have been updated, incorporating the ever-evolving learning about how to more effectively treat HIV disease with combination antiretroviral therapies. Among the major changes in each are the following:

Adult/Adolescent Guidelines

• New text on initiating therapy in patients with asymptomatic HIV infection;
• An expanded section on adverse reactions to HAART; and
• A new section on prevention counseling for patients with HIV infection.

• New information on combination antiretroviral therapy and pregnancy outcome; and
• A revision in "Antiretroviral Drug Resistance and Resistance Testing in Pregnancy."

To refer to the current updates on the web site version of the Guidelines, please contact: http://hivatis.org/trtgdlns.html.