Antiretroviral therapy is indicated for any child with definitive diagnosis of HIV infection who has evidence of significant immune suppression and/or who has HIV associated clinical symptoms regardless of the age or viral load.
Specific guidelines for initiating therapy are:
• Symptomatic HIV disease
• Development of clinical symptoms
• Moderate and Severe immune suppression
• High HIV RNA levels (> 10,000 copies/ml)
• Asymptomatic disease in a 30 month old infact with HIV RNA copy number of > 10,000 copies/ml
• Increasing HIV RNA copy number as follows:
- A fivefold increase for children aged < 2 years and a > 3 fold increase for children aged > 2 years.
• All children diagnosed as HIV infected within the first year of life regardless of clinical, immunologic or virologic status.