What Are the Treatments for People With HIV?

Anti-HIV medications, also known as ARV's (antiretroviral medications) or HAART (highly active antiretroviral therapy), were thought of as miracle drugs when they were first developed. They were awful to take and could cause horrible side effects, but they saved lives. Since the early days of the HIV epidemic, these treatments have been refined considerably, while additional treatment options have also been developed.

Non-Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NNRTIs)

• NNRTIs stop HIV from making a protein called reverse transcriptase, which is how it makes replications of itself. This slows the spread of HIV within the body, helping to keep the virus from overwhelming the immune system.

Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NRTIs)

• Similar to NNRTIs, NRTI medications create fake versions of the reverse transcriptase protein. These fake proteins slow down the HIV replication process, which in turn slows the spread of the virus within the body.

Protease Inhibitors (PIs)

• Protease is another protein that HIV needs in order to replicate. These inhibitors slow the production of protease down, thus slowing down the replication of HIV.

Fusion or Entry Inhibitors

• These drugs block the virus from entering CD4 immune cells, which is where HIV replicates. By stopping the virus from entering the CD4 cells, the spread of the virus can be slowed because many of the virus cells will die before they have a chance to replicate.

Combination Therapy or ARV Drug "Coctails"

• Scientists and doctors discovered early on in HIV research that simply blocking the replication of the virus didn't keep it at bay for very long. Combination therapy uses a regimen of two to three or more ARV drugs to combat the virus directly. Different drugs are used in combination in order to prevent potential side effects that could stem from using larger amounts of a single drug.