There are many published clinical guidelines for the treatment and management of patients with HIV infection. None addresses the care of the patient within an European perspective. Patient management in Europe benefits from numerous particularities; the most obvious being the access to care which is almost universal and related to the social security systems existing in most Western European countries. In addition the European Union has a centralized process of drug registration, through the EMEA (European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products), which aims to homogenize access to new drugs thoughout Europe. However there still exist important
differences in the treatment and management of patients with HIV infection within different regions of Europe, so it appeared appropriate to define common guidelines. Therefore the EACS (European Aids Clinical Society ) convened a two-day meeting in Brussels in May 2001 bringing together a group of skilled specialists including clinicians, virologists and immunologists from major HIV clinical centres in Europe. A consensus guidelines document was drawn up which includes comprehensive clinical recommendations on the initiation of therapy, patient follow up, management of toxicities and treatment failures. Considerations on resistance testing are only briefly discussed in these guidelines as these have been extensively covered in the European
Guidelines on resistance. Specific topics, such as treatment during pregnancy, management of the HIV 2 infected patient, as well as HCV or HBV co-infected patients have been included. These guidelines attempt to summarize the current state of knowledge of HIV disease management and treatment which is a rapidly evolving medical field and will therefore require regular change and update in the coming years.
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