treatment

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THERE IS NO CURE FOR AIDS YET !!!!!!!!

medications are effective in fighting HIV and its complications. Treatments are designed to reduce HIV in your body, keep your immune system as healthy as possible and decrease the complications you may develop.
There are three main factors that are taken into consideration whilw designing the treatment for AIDS i.e
  • willingness and readiness to begin therapy
  • stage of disease
  • other health problems
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a number of drugs for treating HIV and AIDS.

WHEN TO START TREATMENT????

  • Your CD4 count is under 500
  • You're pregnant
  • You have HIV-related kidney disease
  • You're being treated for hepatitis B


CLASSES OF ANTI- HIV DRUGS...


  1. non -nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs)
  2. nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors
  3. protease inhibitors(PIs)
  4. entry or fusion inhibitors
  5. integrase inhibitors
  • Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs)
                                                                                       NNRTIs disable a protein needed by HIV to make copies of itself Examples       include efavirenz (Sustiva), etravirine (Intelence) and nevirapine (Viramune).

  • Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs)
                                                                                      NRTIs are faulty versions of building blocks that HIV needs to make copies of itself. Examples include Abacavir (Ziagen), and the combination drugs emtricitabine and tenofovir (Truvada), and lamivudine and zidovudine (Combivir).

  • Protease inhibitors (PIs):- 
                                                  PIs disable protease, another protein that HIV needs to make copies of itself. Examples include atazanavir (Reyataz), darunavir (Prezista), fosamprenavir (Lexiva) and ritonavir (Norvir).

  • Entry or fusion inhibitors:-
                                          These drugs block HIV's entry into CD4 cells. Examples include enfuvirtide (Fuzeon) and maraviroc (Selzentry).

  • Integrase inhibitors:-
                                          Raltegravir (Isentress) works by disabling integrase, a protein that HIV uses to insert its genetic material into CD4 cells.   
                   







all the above mentoned drugs are used in different combinations according to the needs of the patient and depending on whether the virus has become resistant to a specific drug or class of drugs, this usually consist of three to four medications at the same time. Combination treatment with HAART is essential because using only one class of medication by itself allows the virus to become resistant to the medication. There are now available pills that contain multiple classes of HAART which are helpful in decreasing the daily pill burden and in improving compliance to medications.

HIV TREATMENT DURING PREGNANCY ....

2 goal of treatment to acheive  for pregnant women with HIV infection

  • to treat maternal infection
  • to reduce the risk of HIV transmission from mother to child.
  • Without treatment of the mother and without breastfeeding, the risk of transmission to the baby is about 25%. With treatment of the mother before and during birth and with treatment of the baby after birth, the risk decreases to less than 2%.
  • antiretroviral medications cannot be used in pregnancy
  • For example, the medication efavirenz (Sustiva) is usually avoided in early pregnancy or in women who are likely to become pregnant.
  • All pregnant women with HIV should be treated with HAART regardless of their CD4 cell count, although the choice of drugs may differ slightly from nonpregnant women.
  • Some medicines, such as zidovudine (also known as AZT), can be given intravenously during labor. Other medications are continued orally during labor to try to reduce the risk of transmission to the baby during delivery.
  • if a pregnant woman with HIV infection does not take HAART during pregnancy and goes into labor, medications are still given during labor. This reduces the risk of transmission of HIV

IT is better to be safe than sorry...Get tested!!!!!


TREATMENT RESPONSE

response to any treatment is measured by your viral load and CD4 counts. Viral load should be tested at the start of treatment and then every three to four months during therapy. CD4 counts should be checked every three to six months.

HIV treatment should reduce your viral load to the point that it's undetectable. That doesn't mean your HIV is gone. It just means that the test isn't sensitive enough to detect it. You can still transmit HIV to others when your viral load is undetectable.




references:-

http://www.emedicinehealth.com/hivaids/page6_em.htm#hivaids_treatment

http://www.harshulayurpharma.com/hiv-treatment-india.htm

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hiv-aids/DS00005/DSECTION=treatments-and-drugs

http://www.ucsfhealth.org/conditions/aids/treatment.html

http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/byAudience/ForPatientAdvocates/HIVandAIDSActivities/ucm118915.htm