US NIH updates HIV-associated opportunistic infection guidance

The first complete update in five years of the US government's guidelines for the prevention and treatment of HIV-associated  opportunistic infections has been released by the National Institutes of  Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in  cooperation with the HIV Medicine Association of the Infectious Diseases  Society of America. The new Guidelines for Prevention and Treatment of  Opportunistic Infections in HIV-Infected Adults and Adolescents apply to  29 infectious diseases. More than 140 medical experts contributed their  knowledge to this edition of the guidelines, the NIH said.

"The scientific community has developed new and more accurate diagnostic  tests for HIV-associated opportunistic infections during the past five  years, more effective treatments for these infections and better  approaches to preventing them," says Henry Masur, chief of the critical  care medicine department in the NIH clinical research hospital, who  co-chaired the working group that revised the guidelines.  HIV-associated opportunistic infections are a leading cause of  hospitalization and death among HIV-infected individuals in the USA, Dr  Masur added.

The new guidelines combine what were previously two separate  publications; one for the prevention of opportunistic infections (last  published in 2002) and the other for their treatment (first published in  2004). Major changes to the guidelines include information about: the  importance of effective ARVs in raising immune function; the diagnosis  and management of immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome; the  prevention and treatment of hepatitis B and C infections;  interferon-gamma release assays for the detection of latent  Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection; interactions between ARVs and  other drugs used to treat opportunistic infections; and malaria and  other tropical diseases that may become opportunistic infections in  HIV-infected immigrants to the USA and in HIV-infected American  travelers. Details are available from the CDC's web site, at  www.cdc.gov.