Table 1. Current treatment recommendations of the German/Austrian,^*1 European,^*2 and American^*3 HIV societies.

German/Austrian Recommendations	European recommendations	American recommendations
Symptomatic HIV Infection
Treatment indicated regardless of CD4 cell count and HIV-RNA	Treatment indicated regardless of CD4 cell count and HIV-RNA	Treatment indicated regardless of CD4 cell count and HIV-RNA
Asymptomatic HIV infection
– CD4 cell count < 500/µL, presence of additional criteria	– CD4 cell count < 500/µL and comorbidity	– CD4 cell count < 500/µL and pregnancy, HIV nephropathy, HBV infection with treatment indication
Case-by-case decision	Offer treatment	Treatment indicated
– HIV-RNA >100 000 copies/mL	– HIV-RNA >100 000 copies/mL	– Regardless of comorbidity
Frequent monitoring of CD4 count	Frequent monitoring of CD4 count	Treatment recommended or to be considered*4
	– Individual reasons
	Offer treatment
– CD4 cell count >350–500/µL and one or more additional criteria	– CD4 cell count 350–500/µL	– CD4 cell count 350–500/µL
Treatment recommended		Treatment moderately to strongly recommended*5
	– HCV coinfection, HBV infection with treatment indication, HIV nephropathy or other type of end organ damage
	Treatment recommended
Additional criteria for starting treatment: – HIV-RNA >100 000 copies/mL, pregnancy, age >50 years, HCV or highly replicative HBV co-infection, high cardiovascular risk (Framingham risk >20% in ten years), drop in CD4 cell count, plasma viremia >100 000 copies/mL, reduction of ‧infectiveness*6	– Rapid drop in CD4 cell count, HIV-RNA >100000 copies/mL, age >50 years, pregnancy, high cardiovascular risk, ‧malignant neoplasia
	Treatment to be considered
– CD4 cell count <350/µl	– CD4 cell count 200–350/µL	– CD4 cell count <350/µl
Treatment indicated	Treatment indicated	Treatment indicated
	– CD4 cell count <200/µl
	Start treatment immediately

^*1 www.daignet.de

^*2 www.europeanaidsclinicalsociety.org

^*3 www.aidsinfo.nih.gov

^*4 50% of the experts voted for starting HAART, 50% for optional initiation of treatment

^*5 55%of the experts voted for a strong recommendation to start treatment, 45% for a moderate recommendation

^*6 50% of the experts voted for inclusion of this criterion