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stART Strong with Rapid Start ART
HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is a treatable, chronic condition, and people with HIV live whole lives. HIV medications, or ART (Anti-Retroviral Therapy), help a person living with HIV have less virus in their body, which slows disease progression and can lead to better overall health and sense of wellbeing, amongst other benefits. While starting ART at any time benefits people living with HIV (PLWH), Rapid Start ART ensures those benefits begin even sooner.
What is Rapid Start ART?
Rapid Start ART is prescription medication to treat HIV, prescribed as soon as possible after an HIV diagnosis. Rapid Start ART uses the same medications that are used to treat HIV, but the medications are started immediately after an HIV diagnosis, sometimes on the same day! Rapid Start ART medication is typically one (1) pill, taken once per day.
How is “Rapid” Defined?
Rapid can mean receiving medication the same day that a person receives their HIV diagnosis or up to 7 days after diagnosis. Starting these medications quickly is safe, effective, and typically with very few side effects.
Why Rapid Start ART?
While starting ART at any time is beneficial to a person living with HIV, Rapid Start ART has additional benefits. Starting ART immediately after diagnosis usually leads to HIV viral suppression in a shorter time frame. HIV viral suppression is the goal of ART. Viral suppression is when the levels of HIV in the blood are very low. Faster viral suppression means slower disease progression, such as fewer opportunistic infections (infections that occur when someone has a weakened immune system) and higher CD4 counts, which are white blood cells that are important for a healthy immune system.
Getting to an undetectable viral load faster also helps people living with HIV stay in care. Studies1 have shown that people who start ART right away are more likely to stay in medical care at the beginning and later on.
An Undetectable viral load equals Untransmissible HIV, or U=U. This means that when a person has a viral load that cannot be detected through lab testing, that person is unable to transmit the HIV virus to a partner. Getting to an undetectable viral load quickly means less time for a person to be able to transmit HIV to sex or needle sharing partners. Undetectable viral loads are an important part of HIV prevention in communities.
Who is Rapid Start ART for?
Rapid Start ART is for anyone newly diagnosed with HIV who has not previously taken medication for HIV treatment. A person may be able to start Rapid Start ART if they meet the following:
- A confirmed HIV diagnosis
- No prior ART treatment, also known as being treatment naïve (this excludes the use of PrEP or PEP before HIV infection)
- No medical conditions or opportunistic infections (such as CMV retinitis, cryptococcal or TB meningitis) that would require ART to be delayed until those conditions are treated.
What happens after you begin Rapid Start ART?
Further laboratory testing is needed for anyone starting ART. Rapid Start ART allows a person to begin HIV treatment while waiting for these results. Continuation of the initial treatment depends on the results of these tests. Your provider may change your medication to work better for you or lower side effects. ART medication does require regular visits with your healthcare provider and periodic lab testing.
Taking ART is crucial for people living with HIV. Rapid Start ART is one more option for people newly diagnosed with HIV to achieve a state of wellbeing even faster.
For more information and article references, please visit:
1 Benson, et al. 2020; Ford, et al. 2018; Wu, et al. 2015; Zulliger, et al. 2014.
