Consensus recommendations for treatment of HIV infection
1997 recommendations for the treatment of HIV infection were adopted at a consensus conference in Munich. This information is now available online in abridged and detailed form: from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). Antiretroviral combination therapy has developed into a complex treatment method in recent years. Today it requires above-average medical knowledge and experience. A whole series of complex interrelated aspects must be integrated into the individual therapy decisions: – the current knowledge about the pathogenesis of the HIV infection
– the prognostic importance of the immunological and virological laboratory parameters
– the risk of developing resistance to the HI virus
– Cross-resistance between individual antiretroviral agents
– Interactions of the antiretroviral substances with each other
– Interactions with other medications and drugs
- the patient's ability to comply.
The recommendations for the treatment of HIV infection, which were adopted at a consensus conference in Munich on November 21 last year, represent an attempt, especially for those physicians who treat HIV patients outside of the highly specialized treatment centers, with decision-making aids and additional practical information for the rational use of medicines. Even before the therapy recommendations are published in Deutsches Ärzteblatt, they can be viewed in the online program of the RKI on the Internet with immediate effect.
In addition to the short version, which will also appear in Deutsches Ärzteblatt, the RKI also offers a more detailed version with numerous tabular overviews and useful additional information as a PDF file for downloading to your own PC. New findings should be integrated into the Internet version of the therapy guidelines as quickly as possible. Such new insights are usually to be expected from major international conferences, the next of which will be held in Chicago in early February and in Geneva in late June/early July 1998. The development of the recommendations goes back to a joint initiative of the German AIDS Society, the Robert Koch Institute and the German Association of Resident Physicians in the Care of HIV and AIDS Patients (DAGNÄ). The recommendations are supported by numerous medical societies and self-help organizations for those affected.
