NYC Pushes for Early HIV Treatment

New York City health officials are urging doctors to prescribe medicine earlier to people infected with HIV. The medicines help to keep down the amount of virus in a person’s body. Health officials noted that people who get treatment are much less likely to spread the virus to others. But the drugs are expensive. Standard practice has been to prescribe them only after the immune system weakens. New York City health officials said costs will go down as the drugs become generic. They said preventing spread to others also will lower costs. More than 110,000 people in New York City are infected with HIV. That’s more than in any other U.S. city. The city health department is keeping track of 66,000 who are being effectively treated with drugs to suppress the virus. Officials estimated that their new advice would help about 3,000 more people begin treatment.