Antiretroviral drugs, administered within days of birth, appeared to bring HIV in newborns down to undetectable levels.
Why it matters: About 500 babies in sub-Saharan Africa are born with HIV every day, NPR reports. Though these early-treated children are not cured yet, researchers' recent study published in Science Translational Medicine shows encouraging results from a clinical trial in Botswana.
"It's likely that we may have set them up for the possibility of long-term remission of their HIV."
— Daniel Kuritzkes, co-author of the study, told NPR
Previous trials have given babies an antiretroviral therapy months after birth, which left about 200 times more of the virus in their blood.
Arguments have been made that the drugs are too powerful for newborns.
Doctors are still pushing for more clinical evidence that the treatment can be safe and more effective than delaying treatment.
