Antiretroviral Use

Antiretrovirals for HIV

Human immunodeficiency virus 1 is the viral infection which leads to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS. Antiretrovirals can slow HIV progression to AIDS, reduce the spread of disease and reduce the incidence of opportunistic infections....

What Is Antiretroviral?

Retroviruses are a family of viruses characterized by the presence of RNA genetic material and a special enzymatic protein known as reverse transcriptase. The human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, is the most clinically significant human...

Antiviral Drugs for HIV

Antiretroviral drugs target human immunodeficiency virus 1 to slow the progression of the HIV to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS. As of 2010, the World Health Organization estimates that among the 33.4 million people living with...

The Side Effects of HAART

Highly active antiretroviral therapy, or HAART, is a way of treating HIV, according to the "American Family Physician" in an August 2003 article. HAART makes use of different antiretroviral medications in order to effectively lower the levels of...

What Are the Treatments for HIV-Infected Babies?

The human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, is a disease that systematically destroys the body's immune system, according to MedlinePlus, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health. The disease can...

Antiretroviral Therapies

HIV is a retrovirus, which means that its genetic material is initially stored in the form of RNA, as opposed to the DNA which human cells use. Antiretroviral therapies, which are used to treat HIV infections, target several different steps in the...

The Effects of HIV Testing

Of the estimated 1.1 million Americans infected with HIV, approximately 232,000 do not know they have the virus, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). HIV testing remains a keystone activity in the effort to provide health...

Four Types of Drugs

Medications are one of the most commonly used treatment modalities available to modern medicine. Diseases that were once though incurable are now treated and cured with drug regimens. The human immunodeficiency virus--the virus that causes...

AIDS & HIV Prevention

MedlinePlus notes that in Americans between the ages of 25 and 44, AIDS is the sixth most common cause of death. A sexually transmitted disease, HIV weakens patients' immune systems. As the immune system weakens, patients become susceptible to...

Carnitine & HIV Infection

The human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, attacks CD4 cells, white blood cells that help fight infection. As a result, people with HIV have a weakened immune system and are more susceptible to potentially life-threatening conditions such as...

Effects of HIV & AIDS

Human Immunodeficiency Virus 1, or HIV, causes Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, or AIDS. HIV/AIDS has a global impact, and as of 2010 remains a pandemic disease. AIDS was identified in the early 1980s and the viral cause--HIV--was isolated in...

How to Start Antiretroviral Therapy

Starting medications for HIV can be a lifestyle change. Antiretrovirals are medications used to slow the progression of HIV. There are different classes of drugs that work to stop the virus in different stages of its life cycle. A doctor will...

A Common Disease That Occurs With HIV

HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus and is a retrovirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS. According to TheBody.com, pneumocystis pneumonia, or PCP, is the most common opportunistic infection in people with HIV. The...

Common Therapies for HIV

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS, is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus, HIV. HIV infects many cells of the immune system resulting in decreased immune responses to infections and cancers. The Joint United Nations Programme on...

What Are the Causes of Pneumonia With HIV?

The immune system protects the body from infections. People living with HIV/AIDS have a weakened immune system, which increases their susceptibility to a variety of infections, including pneumonia. The same germs that cause pneumonia in otherwise...

Thrush & Acid Reflux in Newborn Twins

Because their young immune systems are not fully formed, newborn twins are prone to developing thrush, an overgrowth of the Candida albicans fungus. Newborns are first exposed to the fungus at the time of birth as they pass through their mother's...

Common Cancers Associated With HIV-Positive Men

According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), people infected with HIV are substantially more at risk for developing some types of cancer. In fact, doctors define acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) in part by the development of certain...

Five Facts About HIV AIDS

The human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, was first discovered in 1983. Left untreated, HIV infection progresses to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS, which is characterized by progressive weakening of the immune system and repeated...

Types of Drugs for the AIDS Virus

Acquired immune deficiency disorder (AIDS) is a medical condition caused the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In 2008, AIDS resulted in the deaths of 2 million people worldwide, according to a report published in December 2008 by the World...

What Are the Treatments for HIV?

HIV, also known as human immunodeficiency virus, is an infection that, during its advance stages, can develop into to AIDS or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, a disease that affects the body's cells and immune system. HIV is transmitted through...

Current Treatments for AIDS

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV and AIDS attack a person's immune system and causes them to become sick with opportunistic infections. Treatment can slow the progression of HIV...

AIDS HIV Treatment

AIDS begins with HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus. As the virus progresses and enters its last stage, it becomes AIDS, or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. While HIV makes a person more susceptible to infections, AIDS is life-threatening,...

Side Effects of Long Term HIV Antiviral Use

The University of California, San Francisco writes that HIV antiviral medications help maintain the general health of the immune system. However, these drugs are not without side effects. Avert.Org explains that side effects vary from person to...

What Are the Treatments for Exposure to HIV?

Human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, is spread through contact with infected blood and body fluids. The risk of transmission varies according to the manner of exposure. The risk is greatest with transfusion of contaminated blood, needle sharing,...

HIV Entry Inhibitors

According to the U.S Food and Drug Administration, entry inhibitors are a class of antiretroviral drugs used in combination with other HIV drugs to treat HIV infection. Entry inhibitors prevent HIV from entering and infecting healthy human cells....

Alternative Therapies for PMDD

Premenstrual dysphoric disorder, or PMDD, occurs at the end of the menstrual cycle and is similar to PMS, or premenstrual syndrome, but the symptoms are more severe. Women may experience mood swings, fatigue, irritability, anxiety and insomnia,...

AIDS Diagnosis & Treatment

AIDS, also known as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, is the end stage of an HIV infection. AIDS can be diagnosed based on the effects that it has on the immune system. The main ways in which AIDS is treated is by slowing the progression of the...

Drugs That Cause Kidney Stones

Some medications increase the risk for developing kidney stones, and individuals who take these medications may need to stop taking the drug, or have their dosages reduced. Individuals who continue taking the drug should have their kidney function...

What Are the Treatments for HIV/AIDS?

In July 2010 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that 1 million people in the United States were living with HIV/AIDS. Whereas infection with the human immunodeficiency virus was once untreatable due to lack of effective...