Pediatric Urgent Start of Highly Active Antiretroviral Treatment (HAART)

Design: Randomized clinical trial involving hospitalized HIV-1 infected children. Children will be randomized to randomized to urgent (<48 hours) versus early antiretroviral therapy (7-14 days). This trial will be unblinded. Population: Hospitalized HIV-1 infected children who are antiretroviral therapy (ART) naïve ≤ 12 years of age. Sample size: 360 children will be randomized (180 per arm). Treatment: All infants will be treated with ART according to World Health Organization (WHO) and Kenyan national guidelines. Study duration: Enrollment into the study will occur over the course of 36-48 months and each infant will be routinely followed for a maximum of 6 months. Study site: Kenyan hospitals. Primary hypothesis: HIV-1 infected children hospitalized with severe co-infection either may be unsalvageable due to too far advanced immunosuppression/co-infection or may benefit from urgent ART. Secondary hypotheses: Urgent ART during an acute infection could potentially result in increased risk of immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) or drug toxicities/interactions. Specific aims: 1. To compare the 6 month all-cause mortality rate, incidence of immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS), and incidence of drug toxicity in HIV-1 infected children (≤ 12 years old) presenting to hospital with a serious infection randomized to urgent (<48 hours) versus early ART (7-14 days). 2. To determine co-factors for mortality, IRIS, and drug toxicity. Potential cofactors will include: baseline weight-for-age, height-for-age, weight-for-height (Z-scores), CD4, HIV-1 RNA, type of co-infection, age, rate of viral load and CD4 change following ART, immune activation markers, pathogen and HIV-1 specific immune responses. Secondary aim: To determine etiologies of IRIS and to compare immune reconstitution to HIV, TB, EBV and CMV following ART overall and in each trial arm.