HIV Medications May Lower Risk of COVID-19, Study Finds

thegavoice.com:

A new study has revealed that HIV-positive people on antiretroviral therapy (ART) medications have a lower risk of getting coronavirus, experiencing severe symptoms, and dying from COVID-19-related complications.

Researchers found that only 0.3 percent of the 78,000 HIV-positive people studied, or 236 individuals, had contracted a confirmed case of coronavirus.

Of these people, 64% (151) required hospitalization, 6.4% (15) needed ICU care, and 8.5% (20) died. After adjusting for factors like age and gender, researchers concluded that those living with HIV who were taking ART meds had “the lowest risk for a COVID-19-related hospitalization.” They suspect this is because of the ART meds’ ability to prevent viruses from replicating within the