What Happens If You Avoid Treatment for AIDS?

For people with AIDS and HIV (the virus that causes AIDS), getting proper treatment is critical to maintaining health and quality of life. While there is still no cure for AIDS, current treatments and antiretroviral drugs can reduce symptoms and allow many people with the virus to live long and fulfilling lives. However, people with AIDS who do not get treatment will almost always develop serious infections and illnesses that ultimately result in death.

When to Start Treatment

• While experts disagree on the best time for HIV-positive people to start treatment, current U.S. guidelines recommend that anyone with a CD4 count of less than 350 begin AIDS treatment.

Benefits of Treatment

• Current HIV therapies help prevent infection, strengthen the immune system, improve a person's quality of life, and reduce the risk of serious illness or death.

Progression to AIDS

• The vast majority of people who are infected with HIV and do not take AIDS medications will eventually die as a result of the virus.

Symptoms and Complications

• HIV-positive people who avoid treatment may experience a lack of energy, weight loss, and persistent rashes and infections, and may eventually develop serious opportunistic infections that can cause death.

HIV Transmission

• Evidence suggests that people who take antiretroviral drugs are less likely to transmit HIV. However, all HIV-positive individuals still need to practice safe sex and avoid sharing needles.

Treatment Adherence

• While current antiretrovirals are effective, they work best when taken exactly as prescribed. If you miss doses the virus can mutate, which may cause the drugs to stop working.