Better to know: the importance of early HIV diagnosis

Early diagnosis is key to successful treatment of HIV. Before the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in 1996, HIV infection almost always resulted in a decline in immune function leading to opportunistic infections and early death from AIDS. The situation now is very different for people living with HIV who are on HAART. One pill a day can suppress the virus and near normal life expectancy is possible.1 However, this biomedical success story has many caveats. Findings of the START trial2 showed that morbidity and mortality is high when treatment is delayed.