What is the best treatment for AIDS?
The most effective treatment for HIV is antiretroviral therapy (ART). This is a combination of several medicines that aims to control the amount of virus in your body.
What are the current treatments for HIV infection and or AIDS?
Currently, there's no cure for HIV / AIDS . Once you have the infection, your body can't get rid of it. However, there are many medications that can control HIV and prevent complications. These medications are called antiretroviral therapy (ART).Mar 26, 2022
What is the treatment for a disease caused by HIV?
The main treatment for HIV is antiretroviral therapy, a combination of daily medications that stop the virus from reproducing. This helps protect CD4 cells, keeping the immune system strong enough to take measures against disease. Antiretroviral therapy helps keep HIV from progressing to AIDS.
What is HIV treatment?
HIV treatment involves taking medicine that reduces the amount of HIV in your body. HIV medicine is called antiretroviral therapy (ART). There is n...
When should I start treatment?
Start Treatment As Soon As Possible After Diagnosis HIV medicine is recommended for all people with HIV, regardless of how long they’ve had the vir...
What if I delay treatment?
HIV will continue to harm your immune system. This will put you at higher risk for developing AIDS. Learn more about AIDS and opportunistic infecti...
What are the benefits of taking my HIV medicine every day as prescribed?
Treatment Reduces the Amount of HIV in the Blood The amount of HIV in the blood is called viral load. Taking your HIV medicine as prescribed will h...
Does HIV medicine cause side effects?
HIV medicine can cause side effects in some people. However, not everyone experiences side effects. The most common side effects are Nausea and vom...
Will HIV treatment interfere with my hormone therapy?
There are no known drug interactions between HIV medicine and hormone therapy. Talk to your health care provider if you are worried about taking HI...
What if my treatment is not working?
Your health care provider may change your prescription. A change is not unusual because the same treatment does not affect everyone in the same way.
Sticking to my treatment plan is hard. How can I deal with the challenges?
Tell your health care provider right away if you’re having trouble sticking to your plan. Together you can identify the reasons you’re skipping med...
What is HIV?
HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that attacks the body’s immune system. If HIV is not treated, it can lead to AIDS (acquired immunodef...
Where did HIV come from?
HIV infection in humans came from a type of chimpanzee in Central Africa. The chimpanzee version of the virus (called simian immunodeficiency virus...
How do I know if I have HIV?
The only way to know for sure whether you have HIV is to get tested. Knowing your HIV status helps you make healthy decisions to prevent getting or...
Are there symptoms?
Some people have flu-like symptoms within 2 to 4 weeks after infection (called acute HIV infection). These symptoms may last for a few days or seve...
What are the stages of HIV?
When people with HIV don’t get treatment, they typically progress through three stages. But HIV medicine can slow or prevent progression of the dis...
Why is it important to take HIV medication?
Taking HIV medication consistently, as prescribed, helps prevent drug resistance. Drug resistance develops when people with HIV are inconsistent with taking their HIV medication as prescribed. The virus can change (mutate) and will no longer respond to certain HIV medication. If you develop drug resistance, it will limit your options ...
How long does it take to get rid of HIV?
There is no effective cure for HIV. But with proper medical care, you can control HIV. Most people can get the virus under control within six months. Taking HIV medicine does not prevent transmission ...
Can HIV be transmitted through sex?
If you have an undetectable viral load, you have effectively no risk of transmitting HIV to an HIV-negative partner through sex. Having an undetectable viral load may also help prevent transmission from injection drug use.
Can I take pills at work?
A busy schedule. Work or travel away from home can make it easy to forget to take pills. It may be possible to keep extra medicine at work or in your car. But talk to your health care provider first. Some medications are affected by extreme temperatures and it is not always possible to keep medications at work.
Can you take a medicine if you missed it?
Missing a dose. In most cases, you can take your medicine as soon as you realize you missed a dose. Then take the next dose at your usual scheduled time (unless your pharmacist or health care provider has told you something different).
Does HIV harm the immune system?
HIV will continue to harm your immune system. This will put you at higher risk for developing AIDS. Learn more about AIDS and opportunistic infections. This will put you at higher risk for transmitting HIV to your sexual and injection partners.
How to treat HIV?
The most effective treatment for HIV is antiretroviral therapy (ART). This is a combination of several medicines that aims to control the amount of virus in your body. Antiretroviral medicines slow the rate at which the virus grows. Taking these medicines can reduce the amount of virus in your body and help you stay healthy.
How to help someone with HIV?
If your partner has HIV: 1 Provide emotional support. Don't be afraid to discuss the disease. Often people with HIV need to talk. 2 Protect yourself against HIV infection and other infections by not sharing needles or having unprotected sex. 3 Protect your partner with HIV from other infections by staying away from him or her when you are sick.
Why is HIV treatment important?
Treatment is especially important for pregnant women, people who have other infections (such as tuberculosis or hepatitis), and people who have symptoms of AIDS. Research suggests that treatment of early HIV with antiretroviral medicines has long-term benefits, such as a stronger immune system.
What happens if you get HIV late?
If HIV progresses to a late stage, treatment will be started or continued to keep your immune system as healthy as possible. If you get any diseases that point to AIDS, such as Pneumocystis pneumonia or Kaposi's sarcoma, your doctor will treat them.
How to keep your immune system strong?
Keep your immune system strong by eating right, quitting smoking, and learning how to avoid infection. Monitor your CD4+ (white blood cells) counts to check the effect of the virus on your immune system. See a counselor to help you handle the strong emotions and stress that can follow an HIV diagnosis.
How to prevent HIV infection?
Health care workers who are at risk for HIV because of an accidental stick with a needle or other exposure to body fluids should get medicine to prevent infection. Also, medicine may prevent HIV infection in a person who has been raped or was accidentally exposed to the body fluids of a person who may have HIV.
Can HIV be used as a complementary medicine?
Some people with HIV may use complementary medicine to help with fatigue and weight loss caused by HIV infection and to reduce the side effects caused by antiretroviral therapy (ART). Talk to your doctor before using them. Some complementary therapies for other problems may actually be harmful.
How long can a person with HIV live without treatment?
People with AIDS can have a high viral load and be very infectious. Without treatment, people with AIDS typically survive about three years. This info sheet provides basic information about HIV. This timeline looks at the history of HIV and the role CDC has played in addressing the epidemic.
How many stages of HIV are there?
What are the stages of HIV? When people with HIV don’t get treatment, they typically progress through three stages. But HIV medicine can slow or prevent progression of the disease. With the advancements in treatment, progression to Stage 3 is less common today than in the early days of HIV.
What happens if you don't get HIV?
If HIV is not treated, it can lead to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). Learning the basics about HIV can keep you healthy and prevent HIV transmission. You can also download materials to share or watch videos on basic information about HIV. If playback doesn't begin shortly, try restarting your device.
How long has HIV been around?
We know that the virus has existed in the United States since at least the mid to late 1970s. To learn more about the history of HIV in the United States and CDC’s response to the epidemic, see CDC’s HIV and AIDS Timeline. How do I know if I have HIV? The only way to know for sure whether you have HIV is to get tested.
What is stage 3 of HIV?
Stage 3: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) The most severe phase of HIV infection. People with AIDS have such badly damaged immune systems that they get an increasing number of severe illnesses, called opportunistic infections.
What happens at the end of stage 3?
At the end of this phase, the amount of HIV in the blood (called viral load) goes up and the CD4 cell count goes down. The person may have symptoms as the virus levels increase in the body, and the person moves into Stage 3. People who take HIV medicine as prescribed may never move into Stage 3.
Is HIV contagious?
They are very contagious. Some people have flu-like symptoms. This is the body’s natural response to infection. But some people may not feel sick right away or at all. If you have flu-like symptoms and think you may have been exposed to HIV, seek medical care and ask for a test to diagnose acute infection.
What is the primary HIV infection?
Primary HIV infection is associated with clinical symptoms, primarily a mononucleosis syndrome, in about 50% of cases. In the ensuing 10 years, more than 50% of HIV-infected individuals develop the opportunistic infections (OIs) indicative of the onset of AIDS. Common presentations of AIDS include pneumonia, dysphagia, diarrhea, ...
What are the clinical features of HIV/AIDS?
Many of the clinical features of HIV/AIDS can be ascribed to the profound immune deficiency which develops in infected patients. The destruction of the immune system by the virus results in opportunistic infection, as well as an increased risk of autoimmune disease and malignancy.
What are the clinical manifestations of AIDS?
The clinical manifestations of infections associated with AIDS tend to fall into well-recognized patterns of presentation, including pneumonia, dysphagia/odynophagia, diarrhoea, neurological symptoms, fever, wasting, anaemia and visual loss.
What happens when the immune system is destroyed?
The destruction of the immune system by the virus results in opportunistic infection, as well as an increased risk of autoimmune disease and malignancy. In addition, disease manifestations related to the virus itself may occur.
What are the major breakthroughs in HIV prevention?
Breakthroughs in the prevention of HIV important to public health include male medical circumcision, antiretrovirals to prevent mother-to-child transmission, antiretroviral therapy in people with HIV to prevent transmission, and antiretrovirals for pre-exposure prophylaxis.
How many people died from AIDS in 2005?
Global AIDS-related deaths peaked at 2.3 million in 2005, and decreased to 1.6 million by 2012. An estimated 9.7 mill …. HIV prevalence is increasing worldwide because people on antiretroviral therapy are living longer, although new infections decreased from 3.3 million in 2002, to 2.3 million in 2012.
How to prevent HIV?
If you're living with HIV, taking HIV medication can keep your partner from becoming infected with the virus. If you make sure your viral load stays undetectable — a blood test doesn't show any virus — you won't transmit the virus to anyone else.
What are the symptoms of HIV?
As the virus continues to multiply and destroy your immune cells — the cells in your body that help fight off germs — you may develop mild infections or chronic signs and symptoms such as: Fever. Fatigue. Swollen lymph nodes — often one of the first signs of HIV infection. Diarrhea.
What is acquired immunodeficiency syndrome?
Overview. Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a chronic, potentially life-threatening condition caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). By damaging your immune system, HIV interferes with your body's ability to fight infection and disease. HIV is a sexually transmitted infection (STI). It can also be spread by contact ...
How does HIV spread?
It can also be spread by contact with infected blood or from mother to child during pregnancy, childbirth or breast-feeding. Without medication, it may take years before HIV weakens your immune system to the point that you have AIDS.
What is the most common cause of pneumonia in HIV patients?
Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP). This fungal infection can cause severe illness. Although it's declined significantly with current treatments for HIV / AIDS, in the U.S. PCP is still the most common cause of pneumonia in people infected with HIV.
How long does it take for HIV to develop?
Thanks to better antiviral treatments, most people with HIV in the U.S. today don't develop AIDS. Untreated, HIV typically turns into AIDS in about 8 to 10 years. When AIDS occurs, your immune system has been severely damaged.
How long does HIV last?
This illness, known as primary (acute) HIV infection, may last for a few weeks. Possible signs and symptoms include: Fever. Headache.
What is the treatment for HIV?
HIV treatment involves taking medicines that slow the progression of the virus in your body. HIV is a type of virus called a retrovirus, and the combination of drugs used to treat it is called antiretroviral therapy (ART). ART is recommended for all people living with HIV, regardless of how long they’ve had the virus or how healthy they are.
How successful is HIV treatment?
HIV treatment is most likely to be successful when you know what to expect and are committed to taking your medicines exactly as prescribed. Working with your health care provider to develop a treatment plan will help you learn more about HIV and manage it effectively.
How long do HIV side effects last?
Some side effects can occur once you start a medicine and may only last a few days or weeks.
What happens if your CD4 is low?
If your CD4 cell count falls below a certain level, you are at risk of getting an opportunistic infection. These are infections that don’t normally affect people with healthy immune systems but that can infect people with immune systems weakened by HIV infection.
How soon can you start ART for HIV?
Treatment guidelines from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommend that a person living with HIV begin ART as soon as possible after diagnosis. Starting ART slows the progression of HIV and can keep you healthy for many years.
Can HIV cause drug resistance?
Drug resistance can be a cause of treatment failure for people living with HIV. As HIV multiplies in the body, it sometimes mutates (changes form) and produces variations of itself. Variations of HIV that develop while a person is taking ART can lead to drug-resistant strains of HIV. With drug resistance, HIV medicines that previously controlled ...
What is drug resistance testing?
Drug-resistance testing identifies which, if any, HIV medicines won’t be effective against your specific strain of HIV. Drug-resistance testing results help determine which HIV medicines to include in an HIV treatment regimen. Taking HIV medication every day, exactly as prescribed helps prevent drug resistance.
Diagnosis
- HIVcan be diagnosed through blood or saliva testing. Available tests include: 1. Antigen/antibody tests. These tests usually involve drawing blood from a vein. Antigens are substances on the HIV virus itself and are usually detectable — a positive test — in the blood within a few weeks after e…
Clinical Trials
- Explore Mayo Clinic studiestesting new treatments, interventions and tests as a means to prevent, detect, treat or manage this condition.
Lifestyle and Home Remedies
- Along with receiving medical treatment, it's essential to take an active role in your own care. The following suggestions may help you stay healthy longer: 1. Eat healthy foods.Make sure you get enough nourishment. Fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein help keep you strong, give you more energy and support your immune system. 2. Avoid raw meat, eggs and mo…
Alternative Medicine
- People who are infected with HIV sometimes try dietary supplements that claim to boost the immune system or counteract side effects of anti-HIVdrugs. However, there is no scientific evidence that any nutritional supplement improves immunity, and many may interfere with other medications you're taking. Always check with your doctor before taking any supplements or alter…
Coping and Support
- Receiving a diagnosis of any life-threatening illness is devastating. The emotional, social and financial consequences of HIV/AIDScan make coping with this illness especially difficult — not only for you but also for those closest to you. But today, there are many services and resources available to people with HIV. Most HIV/AIDSclinics have social workers, counselors or nurses wh…
Preparing For Your Appointment
- If you think you might have HIV infection, you're likely to start by seeing your family doctor. You may be referred to an infectious disease specialist — who additionally specializes in treating HIV/AIDS.