It is not possible to completely eliminate the HIV virus once you have been infected.
According to numerous studies, a high viral load (level of HIV in the blood) makes the progression from HIV infection to AIDS very rapid.
HIV treatment therefore aims to control the virus so that an infected person can stay healthy longer without developing AIDS.
HIV Treatment – Drug Therapy
Anti-retroviral drug therapy aims to reduce the level of virus to very low levels such that it is undetectable in the blood and to increase CD4 levels such that the weak immune system gets stronger.
The HIV treatment works by stopping the virus from replicating itself inside the body’s cell by interfering with the chemicals the virus uses to make copies of itself.
Treatment has enabled many infected persons to live longer active lives.
Several factors are considered before starting HIV treatment.
It is therefore important that persons living with HIV/AIDS must consult their doctor.
HIV Treatment Factors
These factors include viral load, CD4 count, the infected person’s present health and quality of life.
The current available groups of antiretroviral drugs used to make suitable combinations for treatment are of four types:
1. Nucleoside and nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs). These include drugs such as abacavir (ABC), didanosine (Videx, ddI), lamivudine (Epivir, 3TC),stavudine (Zerit, d4T) and Zidovudine (Retrovir AZT). A commonly prescribed drug is Tenofovir. Combivir is a combination pill that has lamivudine and zidovudine.
2. Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. These are drugs like efavirenz (sustiva) and nevirapine (viramune)
3. Binding and fusion inhibitors such as T-20 (Fuzeon)
4. Protease inhibitors such as indinavir (Crixivan), ritonavir (Norvir), nelfinavir (Viracept) and saquinavir (Invirase, Fortovase).These also come in combinations such as Kaletra a combination of lopinavir and ritonavir.
Most Common HIV Treatment
The most common HIV treatment approach is known as HAART (highly active antiretroviral therapy).
Typically three different drugs from at least two groups of antiretroviral drugs are taken together.
That is a combination of three nucleosides, or two nucleosides and one non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase or two nucleosides and one protease inhibitor.
Fusion inhibitors are usually reserved for patients with HIV strains that are resistant to drugs.
It is also recommended that people who have a CD4 count of less than 200 per cubic millilitre of blood should take other medications such as Bactrim to guard against opportunistic infections.
Nowadays some tablets contain two or three of these different drug types.
The combination of several drugs, often referred to as a drug cocktail is an approach used to attack the HIV virus at various points as well as limiting the risk of the virus becoming drug resistant.
Combination drugs are also very convenient as they reduce the number of tablets one has to take daily for their HIV treatment.