HIV infection remains a taboo subject for many people. However, some related issues happily change - for example, treatment. In fact, in the past, the vast majority of HIV patients eventually developed AIDS. Nowadays, thanks to the implementation of modern HIV treatment pathways, this tendency is changing. What are modern methods of treating HIV infection? What are the effects of their use?
HIV(Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is a pathogen whose discovery changed the medical world to some extent. It primarily attacks the immune system, which results in a significant reduction in immunity. Patients infected with this pathogen have an increased risk of various infections, both bacterial infections and fungal and viral infections. However, HIV is also associated with the risk of developing a very serious medical condition, which is Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS).
Currently, fewer and fewer people infected with HIV develop AIDS. All thanks toantiretroviral treatment(ART, Antiretroviral Therapy). HIV infection cannot be cured at the moment. However, the effects of antiretroviral therapy have many benefits and improve the quality of life of the infected person.
Effects of antiretroviral therapy
The main goal of antiretroviral treatment is to extend the patient's life. It takes place through several different mechanisms.
Modern antiretroviral drugs are designed to reduce HIV replication. When there is less virus in the human body, the human immune system has a chance to regenerate. Thanks to this, he can fight the opponent more efficiently.
Better efficiency of the immune system helps not only in the fight against HIV, but also with other pathogens. It has been proven many times that tuberculosis occurs less frequently in patients taking antiretroviral drugs.
Antiretroviral therapy is aimed at reducing the risk of developing AIDS, as well as reducing the mortality rate of those who unfortunately develop acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
Taking drugs belonging to this group protects not only the HIV-infected person, but also their relatives. They can convince about it specificallynumbers. With antiretroviral treatment, the risk of HIV transmission from an infected person to a he althy person can be reduced by up to 96%.
Difficulties with antiretroviral therapy
Antiretroviral treatment can improve both the he alth and general functioning of the patient. This treatment, however, is not without its drawbacks.
Side effects
As with any pharmaceutical, antiretroviral drugs can causeside effects . The most common ones include:
- nausea,
- vomiting,
- sleep disorders,
- diarrhea,
- dry mouth,
- headaches,
- feeling tired,
- dizziness.
Possible complications
The aforementioned ailments most often appear in the initial period of treatment and, over time, decrease in intensity or even disappear completely. However, long-term complications of antiretroviral treatment are also possible, including:
- carbohydrate metabolism disorders,
- lipid disorders
- Does the redistribution of adipose tissue.
Important regularity
In order to achieve the desired effects of the therapy, medications should be taken regularly, every day, according to the recommendations of the attending physician. It is not advisable to take breaks in your treatment, as this may lead to drug resistance, and thus drug ineffectiveness in treating HIV.
It is also difficult for patients that they often have to visit their doctor. It happens that more than a third of all infected decide to stop treatment at some point for various reasons.
Such a procedure may have very serious consequences. It is for this reason that various measures are being taken to make it easier for HIV patients to receive treatment.
Changes to antiretroviral regimens
In the treatment of HIV infections, monotherapy, i.e. treatment with one drug, is avoided. All because such a procedure is simply of limited effectiveness.
Until recently, patients were taking three medications as standard, which distinguished among others:
- mechanisms of action,
- safety profile (side effects),
- or effectiveness.
There are currently changes in recommendations for the treatment of HIV infection. Treatment of HIV-positive patients is gaining more and more popularitymedicines containing two active substances instead of three.
This change is extremely important. In medicine, the general goal is to take as few medications as possible, which is especially important in the case of chronic diseases.
Patients infected with HIV must take antiretroviral drugs for the rest of their lives. Taking fewer medications reduces - at least partially - the risk of side effects from treatment.
It is also worth emphasizing here that various, sometimes even dangerous, interactions may occur between different pharmaceuticals. As the number of drugs used is reduced, the risk of drug interactions is simply reduced. Medicines are also adapted to this principle.
In the treatment of HIV, various antiviral drugs are used, which differ in their mechanism of action, but also in possible side effects. It is possible to use therapies that consist of two active substances.
Changing from taking three to two drugs may seem cosmetic, but in practice it is definitely not. According to the Positive Perspective 2 study, it turns out that it is important for people infected with HIV - almost 70% of patients are worried about the side effects of antiretroviral treatment, and 73% of patients would take fewer drugs than before, while maintaining the same effectiveness of treatment.
Advances in HIV and AIDS treatment
It is worth noting here that over the years, there have actually been exceptionally favorable changes in the treatment of HIV patients. The first hopes appeared at the end of the 1980s, when in 1987 the first drug for people with HIV was registered - azidothymidine.
With time, more drugs became available, but it quickly turned out that monotherapy with any of them did not bring long-term effects due to the mutation of the virus. It was then, at the end of the last century, that combination therapy began to be used to treat HIV.
The advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART for short) was a definite breakthrough in the fight against HIV. Patients stopped dying from infection, and finally medics managed to stabilize the condition of AIDS patients.
The beginnings of combination antiretroviral therapies, however, were not simple at all: patients had to take a large number of pills, and they experienced side effects quite often (such as diabetes or acceleration of atherosclerosis).
Ultimately though - thanksthe work of many scientists around the world - new antiretroviral drugs appeared, which were not only effective, but also had a lower number of serious side effects.
The current situation of patients is therefore definitely different than a dozen or so years ago, and even in some environments, the term "HIV-infected patients" has ceased to be referred to as "people living with HIV".
Hope for even better HIV treatment options
According to statistics, there are about 38 million people infected with HIV in the world. Due to the fact that for many people this disease is very embarrassing and they do not tell anyone about it, most likely the real number of people infected with this microorganism is much higher.
Looking only at the official data, however, it is easy to see that the problem is just common. For this reason, it is of interest to many different researchers. They analyze various aspects related to HIV, including are looking for even better treatment options for infections with this pathogen.
Optimistic news comes from a world wherean antiretroviral preparation containing two active substances, administered by intramuscular injection, is already being used. This drugcan be administered at monthly (in America) or even two-month (in many European countries) intervals, which is more convenient than taking the tablets daily.
There is currently no cure for HIV infection.Scientists, however, continue to search for a drug that would allow the complete cure of HIV-infected people.Patients and doctors are still waiting for the moment when medicine will have a means to completely release the patient from this dangerous pathogen.
However, currently available antiretroviral drugs, despite some disadvantages, achieve really good results and simply extend patients' lives.
It remains to be hoped that the efforts made by scientists from around the world will result in the emergence of drugs not only increasing the comfort of treatment of patients, but also that eventually medicine will be fully successful in the fight against HIV.
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