Science: Breakthrough of the Year – HIV Treatment as Prevention

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Science        
23 December 2011 vol 334, issue 6063, pages 1593-1752
http://www.sciencemag.org/current.dtl

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Breakthrough of the Year
HIV Treatment as Prevention
Jon Cohen

HIV/AIDS researchers have long debated whether antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) used to treat HIV-infected people might have a double benefit and cut transmission rates. To some it was obvious: ARVs reduce HIV levels, so individuals should be less infectious. Skeptics contended that this was unproven. Then in May of this year, the 052 clinical trial conducted by the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) reported that ARVs reduced the risk of heterosexual transmission by 96%. Because of HPTN 052’s profound implications for the future response to the AIDS epidemic, Science has chosen it as its Breakthrough of the Year.