Shaun Robinson and Bruce Kilmister New Zealanders with HIV, the overwhelming majority of whom are gay and bi men, should be put on to health-saving medications earlier after being infected than they are at present, according Body Positive, the NZAF and a visiting Sydney expert on HIV treatment. Currently drug combinations designed to push the debilitating virus down to undetectable levels are only prescribed to infected people when their CD4 count, an indication of the robustness of their compromised immune system, get down to the comparatively low level of 350. Many other nations have already acknowledged the benefits of medication use from a higher level of 500. Increasingly New Zealand is being left behind," says Body Positive's Bruce Kilmister. One presenter at today's annual HIV Treatments Update forum said it is embarassing that New Zealand has dropped "below Malawi" in this aspect of HIV treatment. Medical study results presented this morning indicate that there are considerable improvements in patients' ability to keep their virus under control if they start treatment before their virus has adversely affected their body's ability to fight back. Associate professor Don Smith, an HIV specialist from Sydney who is originally from New Zealand, gave graphic evidence of the damage that can be caused to the body's defence mechanisms well before the CD4 level drops as far as 350. Body Positive's Kilmister says the government's drug funding agency Pharmac "have not yet accepted that there are long-term beneficial outcomes" from earlier drug treatment. He says Pharmac needs to have the evidence presented to it. NZ AIDS Foundation's Shaun Robinson says the Foundation and other sexual health agencies are working together to prepare a solid case. "But Pharmac is always resistant to extra expenses," notes Kilmister wryly. However, a word of caution was sounded that early start of HIV medication must be balanced with the long term damage done by years of exposure to the aggressive HIV treatments. As people are living longer, healthier lives with HIV they are succumbing to drug-related problems such as kidney damage, dental problems, increased likelihood of cardi-vascular disease and other significant medical issues. One long-term HIV infection survivor advised this morning's session of the forum that he is already experiencing major kidney issues which have seen him spend a week in hospital on dialysis.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 21st September 2012 - 4:05pm