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1st - way, way too many unaccounted variables. And second The Chinese Interpretation is Antiretroviral therapy for HIV-positive individuals in serodiscordant couples reduced HIV transmission across China, which suggests that the treatment-as-prevention approach is a feasible public health prevention strategy on a national scale in a developing country context. The durability and generalisability of such protection, however, needs to be further studied.
The headline to this piece says "Chinese Study Challenges Treatment as Prevention Strategy" But the study says "That our results show a significant (p less than 0·0001) 26% reduction in HIV transmission under real-world conditions in a developing country suggests that such a public health prevention strategy is feasible on a national scale and helps to validate the WHO recommendation in support of the treatment-as-prevention approach."
Mark MacDonald
Consider the source. This is a government which denied the mere existence of HIV in its population for decades. Secondly, how well treated were those on ARV? Were they actually suppressed? It's no good saying ARV is no good at reducing transmission if the parameters of compliance and suppression aren't met. Give me a controlled study over a mere review of medical records any day. Without more detail about this study, reporting on it can become "scare-mongering". Super-infection ringing bells?
December 19, 2012 • Vancouver Canada