HIV hides in reservoirs during antiretroviral therapy (ART). These viral sanctuaries are the reason why ART is not a cure. And research teams have striven for years to determine how the HIV reservoirs are established and maintained during ART. Thanks to an unprecedented access to blood, and biopsies of rectums and lymph nodes of people at the earliest stages of HIV infection, an international team of researchers at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM), the U.S. Military HIV Research Program and the Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Centre has shown that the first established reservoirs are still “sensitive” during these early stages and could be downsized about 100 times upon immediate ART initiation.
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