An Overview of the 1999 US Public Health Service/Infectious Diseases Society of America Guidelines for Preventing Opportunistic Infections in Human Immunodeficiency Virus–Infected Persons

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Abstract
1999 US Public Health Service (USPHS)/Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) Guidelines for Preventing Opportunistic Infections (OIs) in Persons Infected with HIV, published in this issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases [1], provide disease-specific recommendations for the prevention of the most common serious OIs in HIV-infected persons in the United States [2]. This article synthesizes these recommendations and offers health care providers an organized approach for preventing OIs in patients infected with HIV. We recognize that preservation or reconstitution of immune function by instituting highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) can now provide the most potent protection against OIs in persons with advanced HIV disease, including many OIs for which specific prevention measures are not available [3, 4]. However, HAART is effective only for persons who have access to therapy, who are willing to accept therapy, who are able to adhere to it, and in whom viral suppression is achieved.