EFFECTS OF A COMBINATION OF ZIDOVUDINE, DIDANOSINE, AND LAMIVUDINE ONPRIMARY HUMAN-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS TYPE-1 INFECTION

A combination of zidovudine, didanosine, and lamivudine was used to tr eat 10 patients with primary human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV- 1) infection 5-28 days after the onset of symptoms, When therapy began , the mean plasma HIV-1 RNA level was 5.31 +/- 0.33 log(10) copies/mL and the mean CD4 T cell count was 630 +/- 112 x 10(6)/L. The plasma HI V-1 RNA level decreased rapidly, and levels dropped below the cutoff i n each case after 108 +/- 32 days. Lymph nodes from 5 patients were bi opsied before therapy and during follow-up, Infectious HIV-1 could not be cultivated from any lymph node mononuclear cells taken on day 90, and HIV-1 RNA was at very low levels in lymph nodes after 1 year. In s ome cases, waning of the antibody response to HIV-1 was shown by Weste rn blot after several months of undetectable plasma RNA, These data de monstrate that triple-drug therapy has a potent antiviral effect durin g primary HIV-1 infection.