 Life expectancy of 20-year-olds starting treatment for HIV has increased by around a decade in the EU and North America since the introduction of antiretroviral therapy in the mid-1990s, according to a study published in The Lancet HIV. Their projections suggest that life expectancy of a 20-year-old who began treatment from 2008 onwards and had a low viral load after a year of treatment may approach that of the general population (around 78 years old). "Our research illustrates a success story of how improved HIV treatments coupled with screening, prevention and treatment of health problems associated with HIV infection can extend the lifespan," said Adam Trickey, who led the research at Britain's University of Bristol. More effective prevention 
 
 The study authors, from the University of Bristol, said the extraordinary success of HIV treatments was a result of newer drugs having fewer side effects and being better at preventing the virus from replicating in the body. [1] 
 
 The improvements are likely to be a result of the transition to less toxic antiretroviral therapy with more drug options for people infected with a drug-resistant HIV strain, better adherence to treatment, improved treatment of co-occurring conditions and opportunistic infections, and increased use of screening and prevention programmes for conditions such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. Antiretroviral therapy, or ART, first became widely used in the mid 1990s. Image copyright Science Photo Library Image caption Antiretroviral therapy combines three or more drugs which stop the HIV virus from progressing 
 
 First used in 1996, it involves a combination of three or more drugs that stop the HIV virus from replicating 
 
 This means damage to the immune system caused by HIV can be prevented and it stops the disease spreading to others 
 
 More recent drugs are even more efficient and have fewer side effects 
 
 The World Health Organization recommends that antiretroviral therapy is started as soon as possible after diagnosis 
 
 Dr Michael Brady, medical director at the Terrence Higgins Trust, said the study showed how much things had changed since the start of the HIV epidemic in the 1980s. This helps prevent and repair damage to the immune system caused by the HIV, and also prevents onward spread of the disease. The World Health Organisation (WHO) now recommends ART should be given as soon as possible after diagnosis to everyone with HIV. The study used data for 88,504 people with HIV who started antiretroviral treatment between 1996 and 2010 from 18 European and North American studies. They found that fewer people who started treatment between 2008 and 2010 died during this period compared with those who began treatment between 1996 and 2007.  Life expectancy for young HIV-positive adults has risen by 10 years in the United States and Europe thanks to improvements in AIDS drugs known as antiretroviral therapy, researchers said on Thursday. Image copyright jimmy isaacs Image caption Jimmy Isaacs, 28, can look forward to a long and healthy life on HIV drug treatment 
 
 Young people on the latest HIV drugs now have near-normal life expectancy because of improvements in treatments, a study in The Lancet suggests. The study's results apply only to people who take antiretroviral therapy, while the majority of HIV deaths occur in people who are not treated. The life expectancy estimates are based on death rates, and there were few data for those in the oldest age group, meaning that death rates in these individuals could not be precisely estimated. Writing in a linked Comment, Ingrid T Katz, Brigham and Women's Hospital, USA, said: "The introduction of combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) has been one of the great public health success stories of the past 40 years.
– The average American born in 2015 is expected to live to 78.8 years of age. HIV patients aren't far behind. A Lancet study finds a 20-year-old who begins treatment for HIV today can live to an estimated 78 years due in part to advances in antiretroviral therapy, reports the BBC. The latest drugs are better at keeping the virus from replicating and prevent resistance, are less toxic, have fewer side effects, and are more likely to be taken effectively as they often involve only one daily pill, the study notes. Young HIV patients are also starting treatment sooner and benefit from improved screening and prevention programs, say University of Bristol researchers, who reviewed 18 studies involving 88,500 patients in Europe and North America. They found patients who began treatment between 2008 and 2010 were less likely to die over the next three years than those who began treatment between 1996 and 2007, per a release. Twenty-year-olds who started treatment between 2008 and 2010 and survived their first year were also expected to live to 73 for men and 76 for women, compared to 63 for men and 67 for women who started treatment years earlier. If those same 20-year-olds had a higher than average immune cell count, they were predicted to live to 78, though those who acquired HIV from injecting drugs had a lower life expectancy, per the Telegraph. One doctor calls it "a tremendous medical achievement." Another warns new challenges await as one in three HIV patients is over age 50. (An antibody could stop up to 90% of HIV strains.)