Patients with acute HIV have, by definition, recently been infected with the virus. HIV is a retrovirus that uses an enzyme called reverse transcriptase as part of its life cycle. Patients with acute HIV syndrome can begin anti-retroviral therapy in an effort to slow the disease's progression, though Dr. Barbara Lee Perlmutter and colleagues at the Staten Island University Hospital note on the American Academy of Family Physicians website that starting treatment early is still controversial.
Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors
One kind of treatment for an HIV infection is the reverse transcriptase inhibitor class of medications. Reverse transcriptase is the protein which HIV uses to convert its genetic material from RNA to DNA, which allows it to incorporate its genes into the host cell. Reverse transcriptase inhibitors come in two forms: nucleoside analogue reverse transcriptase inhibitors and non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. Nucleosides are the building blocks of genetic material. Nucleoside analogue reverse transcriptase inhibitors work by mimicking the nucleosides that reverse transcriptase uses, but instead of being incorporated into DNA, these compounds inactivate reverse transcriptase. Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors also inactivate reverse transcriptase, but through a different mechanism. Reverse transcriptase inhibitors typically are combined for maximal effect. AIDSInfo notes that one recommended reverse transcriptase inhibitor regimen consists of the non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor efavirenz, combined with tenofovir and emtricitabine, which are nucleoside analogue reverse transcriptase inhibitors.
Protease Inhibitors
Protease inhibitors target a different HIV-related protein. When HIV infects a cell, many of its proteins are bound together. These proteins are separated using a protein called protease. Protease inhibitors block this enzyme, which helps keep the virus from duplicating. There are many different protease inhibitors, Perlmutter and colleagues noted in an August 1999 American Academy of Family Physicians website article, including amprenavir, saquinavir and nelfinavir.
Fusion Inhibitors
Fusion inhibitors, the Mayo Clinic explains, are a class of medication which interferes with the process by which HIV enters white blood cells. Fusion of the virus with the membrane of white blood cells is necessary for the virus to spread to new cells in the body. Fusion inhibitors are particularly effective against strains of HIV that are resistant to other kinds of treatment. Enfuvirtide, according to the Mayo Clinic, is the first drug in this class and is typically given via injection.
Integrase Inhibitors
Integrase inhibitors block a protein which HIV needs to insert its genes into the DNA of the host cells. The only integrase inhibitor currently approved for treating HIV as of 2010, known as raltegravir, is usually given in combination with other anti-retroviral treatments.
Chemokine Co-Receptor Inhibitors
In order for HIV to infect white blood cells it needs to bind to proteins on the outside of the white blood cell called a chemokine co-receptor. Chemokine co-receptor inhibitors are unique among anti-HIV medications, according to the Mayo Clinic, in that they affect normal human cells, not the viral cells. The only drug of this type is called maraviroc.
