Hepatitis co-infection and drug holidays don't mix: analysis from SMART study

[newt]

HBV or HCV coinfection produced higher risk from treatment interruptions: drug holidays and hepatitis don't mix. Mark Mascolini, NATAP writing in HTB. 

Basically, the risk of death/serious illness seems way higher for people with HBV or HCV taking a treatment interruption, based on further analysis of outcomes in the SMART study (the big study on CD4 cont guided treatment interruptions).

- matt

[powerpuff]

i have a question , so what your saying is one should not stop haart?interuption.usually hep treatment lasts a course of a year/ rbaviron/ interferon. are you saying tat the hep treatment should continue???

[Ann]

Powerpuff,

Just in case you missed it in the other thread;

PP:

For your sake, I'm thinking that all this guesswork and defensive posturing on your part has gone on long enough. The way I'm reading this, you seem to be investing a heck of a lot of time and energy "defending" the remote possibility of your potential exposure to HIV, when you really should be focusing on making an appointment with a medical doctor (anonymous testing procedures should be the least of your concerns right now) for comprehensive follow-up in light of your unconfirmed results. It's your skirting of the most basic issues -- and common sense -- that has a lot of folks confused and reluctant to engage you further.

At this stage of the game, I'm going to lock this thread and ask that you only post messages in the "Am I Infected?" Forum, as this really isn't the place to discuss the uncertainties surrounding your potential exposure to HIV (or HCV) and the next steps you should be taking to get to the bottom of this.

Thanks very much,

Tim Horn

 

Please consider yourself warned.

Ann

[newt]

Noting Ann's comments, and chiefly for the benefit of other readers who want the short version, the key findings drawn out by this analysis are:

• Interrupting [HIV] antiretrovirals proved “particularly unsafe” for people with hepatitis B or C coinfection [3].
• SMART enrollees coinfected with hepatitis B had to restart antiretrovirals more often than those without [4].

Numbers refer to refs in article.