South Africa's new policy to make treatment available to whoever is HIV-positive is unlikely to drop the country's high rate of new infections. This is despite the fact that when treatment is taken correctly a person becomes non-infectious.The UN and South Africa hope the policy, which comes into effect in September, will stop an estimated 500000 South Africans from contracting HIV annually.But the results of a study testing whether large-scale infections can be dropped by giving people treatment, regardless of their CD4 count, has dampened that hope.According to Johns Hopkins' Chris Beyrer, head of the International Aids Society, earlier studies had shown that HIV-positive people on treatment did not pass on the virus to negative partners, despite regular unsafe sex.But a study conducted in KwaZulu-Natal aimed at testing this at a policy and community level has shown achieving the same results on a large scale is not that easy.Over four years the African Centre for Health and Population and the French group ARNS tested 24000 people for HIV every six months. All those who tested positive were told to visit one of 22 mobile clinics set up in the area to make access to health facilities easier. Half of those who tested positive could get treatment regardless of their CD4 count, while the other half were only put on treatment when their CD4 count dropped to 500 or less.It was hoped that the rate of infection in communities that accessed treatment regardless of their CD4 count would drop if the individuals visited a clinic. But this was not the case. An estimated 2% of individuals a year became HIV-positive in both sets of communities.But Deenan Pillay, who conducted the study, said one problem was that not enough people went to the clinics to get treated.Just under 40% of HIV-positive people went to a clinic within six months of testing HIV-positive in their homes, according to a release announcing the study results.Pillay said: "This is not a wasted study in any way. We have learned that we must make it as easy as possible to get people to the clinic. It's a significant result because it demonstrates what a struggle it is going to be in real life."There is all this enthusiasm about science , but when it comes to implementing, reality hits back."..