On Call: A Doctor's Journey in Public Service

by Anthony Fauci

Perhaps the most important breakthrough in HIV treatment and prevention following the transformational development of triple combination antiretroviral therapy in 1996 occurred in May 2011. The report of an NIAID-sponsored international clinical trial involving predominantly (97 percent) heterosexual couples published by Myron “Mike” Cohen and his colleagues from the University of North Carolina clearly demonstrated that in a sexual relationship in which one partner was infected and the other was not, if you suppressed the virus early with antiretroviral therapy in the person with HIV, you could decrease the likelihood that the individual with HIV would infect his or her sexual partner by more than 95 percent. Science magazine hailed this as the “Scientific Breakthrough of the Year” in 2011, an accolade that is a huge deal for a clinical study.