Time to Hit HIV, Early and Hard

Early treatment of asymptomatic human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection remains controversial. In the AIDS Clinical Trials Group 019 study, zidovudine was shown in 1990 to slow the clinical progression to AIDS in infected but asymptomatic subjects.1 However, a follow-up of those subjects found no evidence of longer survival with the use of zidovudine.2 Furthermore, the Concorde study found that there was not only no survival benefit from early treatment with zidovudine, but also no effect on the overall progression of disease.3 Now, in this issue of the Journal, Volberding et al. report the further results of the AIDS . . .