US Department of Health and Human Services

The US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) convened an expert panel of researchers, clinicians, and HIV-positive treatment advocates to discuss clinical practices for the treatment of HIV infection in January 1997. Later that year, the first version of Guidelines for the use of Antiretroviral Agents in HIV-infected Adults and Adolescents was published.

This is now a living document on the DHHS website, re-evaluated and updated regularly. These guidelines and others concerning maternal-child transmission, post-exposure prophylaxis, prevention, managing opportunistic infections, paediatric care, and testing are available at http://www.aidsinfo.nih.gov/guidelines/. The most recent version of the adult and adolescent antiretroviral guidelines was published in December 2009.1

The goals of treatment are to reduce HIV-related morbidity and mortality, improve the quality of life, restore and preserve immune system function, suppress viral load as much and as long as possible; and prevent vertical HIV transmission.

References

  1. Panel on Antiretroviral Guidelines for Adults and Adolescents. Guidelines for the use of antiretroviral agents in HIV-1-infected adults and adolescents. Department of Health and Human Services, 1 december: 1-161, available online at www.aidsinfo.nih.gov/ContentFiles/AdultandAdolescentGL.pdf. [Date accessed 30 March 2011], 2009
This content was checked for accuracy at the time it was written. It may have been superseded by more recent developments. NAM recommends checking whether this is the most current information when making decisions that may affect your health.