Issues Regarding Antiretroviral Treatment for Patients With HIV-1 Infection

Abstract

To the Editor. —In their 1991 report, HIV Disease in Correc- tional Facilities , the Presidential National Commission on AIDS recommends that and treatment available to HIV-infected inmates in correctional facilities should be equal to that available to HIV-infected individuals in the general community. Dr Carpenter and colleagues 2 and Dr Quinn 3 recommend treatment of acute primary HIV infections with combination antiretroviral regimens that include 2 nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors and a protease inhibitor. Incarcerated populations have higher prevalence rates of HIV infection than the general nonincarcerated population. As unprotected sexual intercourse and sharing of syringes and needles for injection continue to occur within correctional facilities, new cases of HIV infection among inmates most certainly will take place. A considerable number of these newly infected inmates will present with symptomatic primary HIV infections, also referred to as the acute retroviral syndrome. Therefore we believe that primary care clinicians in correctional facilities have