HIV CURE

Analytical treatment interruption (ATI) is a crucial component of HIV cure research, but discussions have largely focused on adult populations. A recent expert opinion from the EPIICAL consortium, published in The Lancet HIV, addresses this gap by reviewing the safety and utility of ATI in children living with HIV.

Research has shown that children living with HIV who start treatment early can have a better chance of achieving long-lasting viral control,

EPIICAL’s EARTH Study reveals challenges persist for infants in Africa with HIV despite early treatment

The EARTH study findings published in eClinical Medicine shed light on the ongoing struggle for infants with HIV in Africa. While early treatment with antiretroviral therapy (ART) is crucial, the  Early Anti-Retroviral Treatment in Children (EARTH) study  found a concerningly high mortality rate within the first three years of life, even among treated infants.

The CARMA Global study, part of the EPIICAL project, has successfully met its recruitment target and recruited 99 children and adolescents living with HIV from across the globe. The study includes children and adolescents who acquired HIV around the period of their birth and then started antiretroviral therapy (ART) at a young age to control the virus and prevent its progression.

The primary aim of CARMA Global is to investigate how the body responds to HIV and how the virus is stored and behaves in the body over time.

In the quest to enhance our understanding of paediatric HIV and improve treatment outcomes, the EPIICAL project has worked tirelessly for the past eight years to gather and generate knowledge on HIV in children. Established with the ambitious goal of creating models to predict how children’s bodies respond to early antiretroviral therapy (ART) and treatment interruption, the EPIICAL project has also aimed to refine methods for understanding immune,