Overview of HIV treatment

Treatment for HIV has come a long process. In the 1980s, HIV was examine a fatal disease. Thanks to proceed in treatment, HIV has become many of a chronic situation, much like heart disease or diabetes.

One of the largest recent advances in HIV treatment has been the development of a single-dose medication — one pill that contains a combination of many different HIV drugs.

A combination pill is a big step forward from the cumbersome drug cocktails that uses to be the only choice for people with HIV.

Single-drug therapy

Other HIV drugs followed, involving  protease inhibitors. These drugs work by stopping HIV from creating more germs inside cells that are already affected by HIV.

Healthcare providers soon locate that when HIV-positive people were given only one drug at a time, HIV became resistant to it, making the drug unsuccessful.

Combination treatments

By the end of the 1990s, single-drug therapy gave way to combination medication. This therapy was called highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). It’s now also called combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) and uses a cocktail of medicine.

The drugs come from at least two different medicine  classes.

Successful  combination therapy produce the amount of HIV in a person’s body. Combination regimens are designed to many  the level of HIV suppression while minimizing the likelihood of the germs  becoming resistant to any one drug.

Today, many  different classes of antiretroviral medicine are used in many  combinations to treat HIV. All of these medicine  interfere with how HIV copies itself in different ways:

Entry inhibitors and fusion inhibitors -  These Zepdon 400mg stop HIV from getting into cells of the immune system in the first place.

Nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs or “nukes”) - NRTIs stop the virus from copy its genetic material. NRTIs block an enzyme called reverse transcriptase. HIV uses reverse transcriptase to convert RNA (its genetic material).

Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs or “non-nukes”) - NNRTIs also hunk the virus from converting its genetic material with reverse transcriptase. However, they work many differently from NRTIs.

Integrase inhibitors - These Ritomune 100mg block an enzyme the virus needs to enter copies of its genes into a human cell’s genetic material.

Protease inhibitors - These Stavir 40mg block an enzyme called protease, which the virus needs to process proteins that are essential to its ability to make more virus. These drugs severely limit HIV’s ability to replicate.

Talking to a healthcare provider about treatment

Selecting  an HIV treatment is an important decision. People living with HIV can make their decision with the helpful  of their healthcare providers.

Before deciding on a treatment, HIV-positive people may want to discussion the benefits and hazard of single tablets versus a combination pill. A healthcare provider can helpful them choose the choice that best suits their lifestyle and health.