Advancements in HIV Treatments

By: Lesly Morales

Image credit:(http://www.healthline.com/hlcmsresource/images/Infographics/HIV-Stats/3_HIV-AIDS-Statistics.jpg)

    Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has been circulating among people for about 100 years. HIV attacks the body's immune system, specifically CD4 cells (T cells), which help the immune system fight off infections. If left untreated, HIV reduces the number of T-cells in the body, making the person more likely to get infections or infection-related cancers. Over time, HIV  can destroy  so many of these cells that the body can't fight off infections leaving the body with a very weak immune system which signals the presence of AIDS, the last state of HIV infection.

   There is no known cure for HIV, but throughout the years doctors have come up with different drugs in order to stop the virus from spreading and reproducing. In the past years, patients diagnosed with HIV were prescribe a "cocktail" of medicines. This means they had several pills to take at different times and keeping a schedule was hectic. Doctors over the years have created just one pill to replace the cocktail of medicines you would have to take.

   The newest treatment for HIV is known as Antiretroviral therapy (ART), along with one-pill-a-day drugs which make life with HIV easier and safer. ART works by combining drugs that attack the virus in different ways. Doctors measure HIV by the viral load in your bloodstreams. The goal of  the treatment is to get the viral load so low that tests cant even detect the virus anymore.

   Advancements in HIV treatments are always evolving and there is always a need because there is still no known cure for HIV. All the treatments do is stabilize the virus. HIV has become more common over the years such as other illnesses like diabetes or high blood pressure. For students entering the medical field this gives them a chance to research HIV in depth and hopefully find a cure in the future.

Citations

1. http://drugtopics.modernmedicine.com/drug-topics/content/time-line-hivaids-treatment-advances-over-past-25-years
2. https://www.aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/hiv-aids-101/what-is-hiv-aids/
3. http://www.webmd.com/hiv-aids/features/hiv-aids-treatment-advances-art#1