CD4 counts fall much faster than they recover, increasing the harms of cycling in and out of care.
aidsmap news story
People with HIV in South Africa are ten times more likely to develop TB while interrupting treatment than while taking it. Even after resuming treatment and achieving viral suppression, their risk stayed 50% higher.
Using provincial health data from Western Cape, South Africa, Haroon Moolla from the University of Cape Town told AIDS 2026 that of the almost 150,000 adults who started ART between 2017 and 2024, 60% had interrupted treatment at least once by the end of the study period. While interruptions made up only a fifth of the total follow-up time, they accounted for over half of all first TB episodes.
The team followed each person from HIV treatment initiation until their last recorded prescription, death, or first TB episode. The majority (68%) were women, and the median age at ART start was 32. Interruption was defined as having no medication in hand for 28 days or more.
Read the full news story here.
View all aidsmap reports from AIDS 2026
Source : aidsmap
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