Treatment
The main treatment for HIV & AIDS is antiretroviral (ARVs) drug therapy. There is no cure for HIV/AIDS therefore medication is used to decrease the amount of the HIV virus in the host. Antiretroviral drugs are used to slow the process of HIV and the affects it has on the immune system.
Combination therapy is when two or more ARV drugs are being taken at the same time, a treatment that is also known as Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART). The reason combination therapy was developed is because if only one drug was used the body would build up resistance to it very quickly and no longer work.
There are more than 20 antiretroviral drugs approved for patient use. These drugs are classified into 5 categories depending on the way they attack the virus.
Nucleotide Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NRTIs)
Non-Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase (NNRTIs)
Protease Inhibitors (PIs)
Fusion Inhibitors
Integrase Inhibitors
(AVERT, 2009).
