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Positively Negative Workshop Outline
Treatment of HIV

Even when someone gets AIDS, they can often get better with the medications that now exist for HIV. They work by slowing down the reproduction of the virus. When there are fewer copies of the virus in the body, the immune system gets a chance to rebuild itself. However, HIV is always in the body and the individual can still infect others when practising behaviours known to transmit HIV . Treatment is NOT the same thing as a cure.

A person infected with HIV will go through a number of stages, each accompanied by different signs and symptoms. The symptoms which include fever, rash, headache, body aches, and swollen glands may be mistaken for those of flu. Although the symptoms may pass over time, the person’s ability to fight pathogens decreases because of their suppressed immune system.

The medication is not an easy thing to live with. Treatment with antiretroviral medications can prolong the life of those infected with HIV. But,

• People have to take up to 30 pills a day at specific times of day according to a strict regimen that ends up controlling ones life.
• Many of the medications cause unpleasant side effects such as nausea, vomiting, headaches, fatigue, liver problems, diarrhea, loss of appetite, and anxiety.
• The combination therapies are expensive, costing tens of thousands of dollars a year.

There needs to remain enough medication in the bloodstream in order to be effective. Some pills you take with food, some on an empty stomach. A person on medication must schedule their meals around their pills. This can affect social events like birthday celebrations, meals with friends, and other social events. Despite this, antiretrovirals are the best method of treatment currently available.

The search for a vaccine to prevent HIV infection is ongoing and may be up to 10-15 years away. Since HIV was first detected, several new strains of the virus have emerged, further complicating the already enormous difficulties of developing an effective vaccine.

Despite the supposed promise of cutting edge research and treatment, a number of obstacles remain in the fight against HIV. One is the nature of the virus itself. HIV belongs to a family of viruses called retroviruses , which reproduce in a manner that makes them difficult to combat. Medications can reduce the amount of virus in the blood to nearly zero but, the retrovirus remains integrated in ones DNA and will never come out.

Overuse of HIV treatment medication or not taking your pills at the correct time causes the virus to mutate, leading to drug resistance and new HIV strains that make the previous treatment ineffective.