Study: HIV Treatment May Prevent New Infections

Research published on Sunday in the British medical journal The Lancet shows that treating persons with HIV can lead to an overall reduction in the transmission of the virus.

In a Canadian study, researchers found that for every 100 people treated for HIV in British Columbia, the infection rate dropped by 3%.

Leaders in the field of HIV research hailed the study as evidence that governments have an incentive to provide free HIV treatment to its citizens, as Canada does. Access to AIDS care in the United States, however, has become more dire in the past year, with steep cuts nationwide to HIV medication programs like The AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP).

"The more people you put on therapy, the less transmission there is," Dr. Anthony Fauci of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told the Associated Press.

Fauci said the reduction in new infection rates in Canada "likely could not be explained by anything else," he said.

The findings will be presented at this week's International AIDS Conference in Vienna, which will focus in part on G8 countries' commitments to sustain the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.