The primary goals of early intervention in HIV infection are to prevent or delay disease progression and to interrupt HIV transmission. 2. After assessing the stage of a patient's infection, the next goal of early intervention is to minimize the risk of progression. The initial assessment of an HIV-infected individual should include a comprehensive evaluation of all previous disease exposures that might become problematic with immune system compromise. 3. Two antiviral agents are licensed to treat HIV infection: zidovudine and didanosine. Only zidovudine is approved for treatment of early HIV infection and is recommended for all HIV-positive adults with or without symptoms of disease progression who have absolute CD4 helper cell counts less than 500.
