New guide for managing HIV/AIDS-related infections

Guidelines for preventing and treating HIV/AIDS-related opportunistic infections (OIs) in children recently received a facelift. Government agencies and industry associations banded together to update recommendations previously published in 2009.

Just released, the Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Opportunistic Infections in HIV-Exposed and HIV-Infected Childrenare a joint effort on the part of the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the HIV Medicine Association of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

In addition to providing information on the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of each OI, the new guidelines underscore the role of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in the prevention and treatment of the infections. They also provide much more information about the diagnosis and management of immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS), the management of ART in children with OIs including potential drug-drug interactions, and they review the most up-to-date immunization recommendations for both HIV-exposed and HIV-infected children.

Intended for use by clinicians and other health care workers involved in treating HIV and AIDS in children, the revised guidelines added new sections on influenza, giardiasis, and isosporiasis; they eliminated sections on aspergillosis, bartonellosis, and human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6) and HHV-7 infections; and they updated recommendations on discontinuing OI prophylaxis after immune reconstitution in children.

For additional information, visit AIDSinfo, the government source for HIV/AIDS medical practice guidelines on the management of HIV/AIDS and HIV/AIDS-related OIs.

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