Temporarily stopping AIDS treatment -- known as a "drug holiday" -- is ineffective and even dangerous as a way of fighting the disease, according to a study published in Thursday's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

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The experimental approach, called structured treatment interruption, is intended to make the virus easier to kill. Doctors withdraw all medicine for a few months, then resume it. In theory, drug-resistant viruses die off and are replaced by ones that are susceptible to the medicines.

Treatment interruptions have also been used to give people time off from multiple medications that may be difficult to take and have toxic side effects.

The study of 270 HIV patients found nonresistant virus did emerge in people whose treatment was interrupted. But patients who went off medication were more likely to die or develop HIV-related complications and symptoms than those who switched to other drugs.

The study was led by Dr. Jody Lawrence of the University of California, San Francisco, and supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

"Interruption of treatment has become increasingly common among HIV-infected individuals," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, NIAID director. "This study helps to clarify the effects of treatment interruption in one group of patients and emphasizes how important it is for people to join clinical trials to help answer questions that will improve patient care."

Fauci pointed out that the findings apply only to patients with drug-resistant HIV and that short treatment interruptions may be beneficial for patients who are being successfully treated with anti-HIV medications to conserve medications and reduce side effects.