Treating HIV-infected infants early helps them live longer

Hundreds of thousands of babies around the world are born each year with HIV--more than half a million in 2006 alone. Caring for these children is complicated by the fact that their immune systems are not fully developed in the first year of life, which makes them especially susceptible to rapid HIV disease progression and death. The current standard of HIV care in many parts of the world is to treat infants with antiretroviral therapy--but only after they show signs of illness or a weakened immune system.