ARVS AND TESTING COULD HALT HIV
Feb 22nd, 2010 by admin
Universal testing and prescription of anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) to all HIV-positive people could effectively halt transmission of the virus within the next five years, a top scientist has said. Dr Brian Williams, based at the South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis in Stellenbosch, told a conference in the United States over the weekend that testing most of the world’s population and offering ARVs to all HIV-positive people could reduce transmission of the virus enough to eradicate AIDS completely over the next 40 years. Prescribing ARVs to almost six million HIV-positive people in South Africa alone would cost up to 3 billion US dollars per year, according to Williams. He said 30 million people around the world are infected with HIV, with two million dying every year.
