Counters Drug Resistance
As HIV reproduces itself, variants of the virus emerge, including some that are resistant to antiretroviral drugs. Therefore, health care providers recommend that people infected with HIV take a combination of antiretroviral drugs known as highly active antiretroviral therapy, or HAART.
This strategy, which typically combines drugs from at least two different classes of antiretroviral drugs, has been shown to effectively suppress the virus when used properly. Developed by NIAID-supported researchers, HAART has revolutionalized how people infected with HIV are treated.
HAART works by suppressing the virus and decreasing the rate of opportunistic infections. HIV Transmission and Antiretroviral DrugsAlthough the use of HAART has greatly reduced the number of deaths due to HIV/AIDS, and possibly the transmission of HIV/AIDS as well, this powerful combination of drugs cannot suppress the virus completely.
Therefore, people infected with HIV who take antiretroviral drugs can still transmit HIV to others through unprotected sex and needle-sharing.
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