Medical experts recommend that people begin treatment for HIV as soon as they know that they are infected. Treatment is especially important for pregnant women, people who have other infections (such as tuberculosis or hepatitis), and people who have symptoms of AIDS.
How can I prevent getting or transmitting HIV?
To prevent getting HIV through sex, you can:
- Choose less risky sexual behaviors. ...
- Use condoms. ...
- Talk to your doctor about PrEP. ...
- Take PEP within 72 hours after a possible HIV exposure. ...
- Encourage your HIV-positive partner to get and stay on HIV treatment. ...
- Get tested and treated for other STDs and encourage your partners to do the same. ...
- Reduce your number of sexual partners. ...
- Decide not to have sex. ...
How do you care for someone with HIV?
- Talk. Be available to have open, honest conversations about HIV. ...
- Listen. Being diagnosed with HIV is life-changing news. ...
- Learn. Educate yourself about HIV: what it is, how it is transmitted, how it is treated, and how people can stay healthy while living with HIV. ...
- Encourage treatment. ...
- Support medication adherence. ...
- Get support. ...
What are the precautions for HIV?
- Use sterile gloves for procedures involving contact with normally sterile areas of the body.
- Use examination gloves for procedures involving contact with mucous membranes, unless otherwise indicated, and for other patient care or diagnostic procedures that do not require the use of sterile gloves.
- Change gloves between patient contacts.
How to optimize HIV treatment?
Current prevention options (such as, oral daily PrEP, once-a-month vaginal dapivirine ring for women, 2-monthly long-acting injectable) along with improved treatment modalities are enhancing the HIV/AIDS arena. Scientific interventions alone will not help ...
When did we get treatment for HIV?
The group went on to develop Zidovudine (AZT), the first medicine for the treatment of HIV and AIDS – which was approved in the US on 19 March 1987.
Is treatment of HIV available?
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).
Can HIV be treated within 72 hours?
What Is PEP? PEP, or post-exposure prophylaxis, is a short course of HIV medicines taken very soon after a possible exposure to HIV to prevent the virus from taking hold in your body. You must start it within 72 hours (3 days) after a possible exposure to HIV, or it won't work. Every hour counts!
Which stage of HIV can be treated?
The three stages of HIV infection are (1) acute HIV infection, (2) chronic HIV infection, and (3) acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). There is no cure for HIV, but treatment with HIV medicines (called antiretroviral therapy or ART) can slow or prevent HIV from advancing from one stage to the next.
Does PEP work after 48 hours?
Thus, even though PEP is often offered for up to 72 hours after exposure, it should be initiated as early as possible. After 72 hours, PEP is not effective, and there are gradations in efficacy from 24 hours postexposure, to 36, 48, and 72 hours.
What happens if you take PEP after 72 hours?
If taken within 72 hours after possible exposure, PEP is highly effective in preventing HIV. But to be safe, you should take other actions to protect your partners while you are taking PEP. This includes always using condoms with sexual partners and not sharing needles, syringes, or other equipment to inject drugs.
Is taking PEP for 14 days effective?
Duration of treatment There have been small animal studies that have suggested 28 days is optimal8 and a case-control study of health care workers14 showed failure of PEP when the 28 days of treatment was not completed. Therefore, current guidelines recommend that 4 weeks of PEP should be used.
What is HIV treatment?
HIV treatment (antiretroviral therapy or ART) involves taking medicine as prescribed by a health care provider. HIV treatment reduces the amount of...
When should I start HIV treatment?
Start HIV treatment as soon as possible after diagnosis. All people with HIV should take HIV treatment, no matter how long they’ve had HIV or how h...
What if I delay HIV treatment?
If you delay treatment, HIV will continue to harm your immune system. Delaying treatment will put you at higher risk for transmitting HIV to your p...
Are there different types of HIV treatment?
There are two types of HIV treatment: pills and shots. Pills are recommended for people who are just starting HIV treatment. There are many FDA-app...
What are HIV treatment shots?
HIV treatment shots are long-acting injections used to treat people with HIV. The shots are given by your health care provider and require routine...
Can I switch my HIV treatment from pills to shots?
Talk to your health care provider about changing your HIV treatment plan. Shots may be right for you if you are an adult with HIV who has an undete...
What are the benefits of taking my HIV treatment as prescribed?
HIV treatment reduces the amount of HIV in the blood (viral load). Taking your HIV medicine as prescribed will help keep your viral load low. HIV t...
Does HIV treatment cause side effects?
HIV treatment can cause side effects in some people. However, not everyone experiences side effects. The most common side effects are Nausea and vo...
What should I do if I’m thinking about having a baby?
Let your health care provider know if you or your partner is pregnant or thinking about getting pregnant. They will determine the right type of HIV...
Can I take birth control while on HIV treatment?
You can use any method of birth control to prevent pregnancy. However, some HIV treatment may make hormone-based birth control less effective. Talk...
What Is HIV Treatment?
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. ART must be taken every day, exactly as your health care provider prescribes.
Why Is HIV Treatment Important?
Getting and staying on HIV treatment because it reduces the amount of HIV in your blood (also called the viral load) to a very low level. This keeps you healthy and prevents illness. There is also a major prevention benefit. People living with HIV who take HIV medication daily as prescribed and get and keep an undetectable viral load have effectively no risk of sexually transmitting HIV to their HIV-negative partners. This is called treatment as prevention.
Does ART Cause Side Effects?
Like most medicines, antiretroviral therapy (ART) can cause side effects. However, not everyone experiences side effects from ART. The HIV medications used today have fewer side effects, fewer people experience them, and they are less severe than in the past. Side effects can differ for each type of ART medicine and from person to person. Some side effects can occur once you start a medicine and may only last a few days or weeks. Other side effects can start later and last longer.
What Is HIV 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.
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.
What happens if you have a low CD4 count?
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. Your health care provider may prescribe medicines to prevent certain infections.
Why do you prescribe HIV?
Your health care provider may prescribe medicines to prevent certain infections. HIV treatment is most likely to be successful when you know what to expect and are committed to taking your medicines exactly as prescribed.
How does HIV treatment affect the body?
By reducing the amount of HIV in the body, HIV medicines also reduce the risk of HIV transmission. A main goal of HIV treatment is to reduce a person’s viral load to an undetectable level. An undetectable viral load means that the level of HIV in the blood is too low to be detected by a viral load test.
What is the treatment for HIV called?
The treatment for HIV is called antiretroviral therapy (ART). ART involves taking a combination of HIV medicines (called an HIV treatment regimen) every day. ART is recommended for everyone who has HIV. People with HIV should start taking HIV medicines as soon as possible.
Why is it important to have less HIV?
Having less HIV in the body gives the immune system a chance to recover and produce more CD4 cells.
How many classes of HIV are there?
There are many HIV medicines available for HIV regimens. The HIV medicines are grouped into seven drug classes according to how they fight HIV. The choice of an HIV regimen depends on a person's individual needs.
How long after HIV infection can you start taking a drug?
(Early HIV infection is the period up to 6 months after infection with HIV.)
Can HIV medications cause side effects?
But sometimes HIV medicines can cause side effects. Most side effects from HIV medicines are manageable, but a few can be serious. Overall, the benefits of HIV medicines far outweigh the risk of side effects. In addition, newer HIV medicines cause fewer side effects than medicines used in the past.
Can HIV be treated with ART?
People with HIV should start taking HIV medicines as soon as possible. ART can’t cure HIV, but HIV medicines help people with HIV live longer, healthier lives. ART also reduces the risk of HIV transmission. A main goal of HIV treatment is to reduce a person’s viral load to an undetectable level.
What test can help determine if you have HIV?
If you receive a diagnosis of HIV / AIDS, several tests can help your doctor determine the stage of your disease and the best treatment, including: CD4 T cell count. CD4 T cells are white blood cells that are specifically targeted and destroyed by HIV. Even if you have no symptoms, HIV infection progresses to AIDS when your CD4 T cell count dips ...
What is HIV RNA?
Viral load (HIV RNA). This test measures the amount of virus in your blood. After starting HIV treatment the goal is to have an undetectable viral load. This significantly reduces your chances of opportunistic infection and other HIV -related complications.
What is NAT test?
Nucleic acid tests (NATs). These tests look for the actual virus in your blood (viral load). They also involve blood drawn from a vein. If you might have been exposed to HIV within the past few weeks, your doctor may recommend NAT. NAT will be the first test to become positive after exposure to HIV.
Why is it important to have a support system?
It's important to have a support system. Many people with HIV / AIDS find that talking to someone who understands their disease provides comfort.
What is the treatment for HIV?
However, there are many medications that can control HIV and prevent complications. These medications are called antiretroviral therapy (ART). Everyone diagnosed with HIV should be started on ART, regardless of their stage of infection or complications.
How to diagnose HIV?
Diagnosis. HIV can be diagnosed through blood or saliva testing. Available tests include: 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 exposure to HIV.
What are the services that are available to people with HIV?
Services they may provide: Arrange transportation to and from doctor appointments.
What is the name of the drug that is used to treat HIV/AIDS?
These drugs paved the way to a new era of combination therapy for HIV/AIDS. Doctors began prescribing saquinavir plus AZT or other antiretrovirals. This combination therapy was dubbed highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). That approach became the new standard of care for HIV in 1996. HAART greatly lengthened the life span of people with AIDS.
What drug stopped HIV from multiplying?
Also called azidothymidine (AZT), the medication became available in 1987.
What is the name of the drug that shuts down HIV?
Similar to AZT, NNRTIs shut down HIV by targeting the enzymes it needs to multiply. These drugs paved the way to a new era of combination therapy for HIV/AIDS.
How many HIV medications are there?
Today, more than 30 HIV medications are available. Many people are able to control their HIV with just one pill a day. Early treatment with antiretrovirals can prevent HIV-positive people from getting AIDS and the diseases it causes, like cancer.
How long does it take for AZT to be approved?
The FDA approved AZT in less than 4 months, fast-tracking a process that usually takes many years. It treats HIV, but it isn’t a cure.
How much is AZT?
AZT also at the time was the most expensive prescription drug in history, with a one-year price tag of $16,500 in today’s dollars. Over the next several years, the FDA approved several other drugs that worked similarly to AZT. They belonged to a drug class called nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs).
What is the problem with AZT?
A big problem with a single-drug treatment like AZT is that viruses learn to change, or mutate, so the drugs over time stop working. In 1995, the FDA approved saquinavir, the first in a different anti-HIV (antiretroviral) drug class called protease inhibitors.
What is the name of the drug that is used to treat HIV?
tenofovir alafenamide fumarate (available as the stand-alone drug Vemlidy or as a part of five different combination drugs) Zidovudine is also known as azidothymidine or AZT, and it was the first drug approved by the FDA to treat HIV.
How do NRTIs keep HIV cells from making copies of themselves?
NRTIs keep cells containing HIV from making copies of themselves by interrupting the reconstruction of the virus’s DNA chain when it uses the enzyme reverse transcriptase. NRTIs include:
What is the term for a combination of two or more antiretroviral drugs?
A combination of two or more antiretroviral drugs is called antiretroviral therapy . It’s the typical initial treatment prescribed today for people with HIV.
What is the best treatment for HIV?
The main treatment for HIV today is antiretroviral medications. These medications suppress the virus and slow its progression in the body. Although they don’t eliminate HIV from the body, they can suppress it to undetectable levels in many cases.
What is entry inhibitor?
Entry inhibitors are a class of drugs that block HIV from entering CD4 T cells. These inhibitors include:
What is a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor?
Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) prevent HIV from making copies of itself by binding to and stopping the enzyme reverse transcriptase. NNRTIs include:
How to find out about HIV drugs?
To find out more about HIV drugs that are currently available (and those that may come in the future), talk to a healthcare professional or pharmacist.
How Do We Know Treatment as Prevention Works?
These studies monitored thousands of male-female and male-male couples in which one partner has HIV and the other does not over several years. No HIV transmissions were observed when the HIV-positive partner was virally suppressed. This means that if you keep your viral load undetectable, there is effectively no risk of transmitting HIV to someone you have vaginal, anal, or oral sex with. Read about the scientific evidence.
How does HIV affect a mother?
It reduces the risk of mother-to-child transmission from pregnancy, labor, and delivery. If a woman living with HIV can take HIV medication as prescribed throughout pregnancy, labor, and delivery and if HIV medication is given to her baby for 4-6 weeks after delivery, the risk of transmission from pregnancy, labor, and delivery can be reduced to 1% or less. Scientists don’t know if a woman living with HIV who has her HIV under control can transmit HIV to her baby through breastfeeding. While it isn’t known if or how much being undetectable or virally suppressed prevents some ways that HIV is transmitted, it is reasonable to assume that it provides some risk reduction.
Why is it called viral suppression?
It is called viral suppression because HIV medication prevents the virus from growing in your body and keeps the virus very low or “suppressed.”. Viral suppression helps keep you healthy and prevents illness.
How long does it take for HIV to be undetectable?
Almost everyone who takes HIV medication daily as prescribed can achieve an undetectable viral load, usually within 6 months after starting treatment. There are important health benefits to getting the viral load as low as possible. People living with HIV who know their status, take HIV medication daily as prescribed, ...
What is it called when your viral load is low?
If your viral load is so low that it doesn’t show up in a standard lab test, this is called having an undetectable viral load . People living with HIV can get and keep an undetectable viral load by taking HIV medication every day, exactly as prescribed.
Why is it important to take HIV medication?
Taking HIV Medication to Stay Healthy and Prevent Transmission. If you have HIV, it is important to start treatment with HIV medication (called antiretroviral therapy or ART) as soon as possible after your diagnosis. If taken every day, exactly as prescribed, HIV medication can reduce the amount of HIV in your blood (also called the viral load) ...
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Is a Cure for HIV Infection Possible?
Scientists believe that a cure is possible. But we need to develop one that can wipe out the virus or keep you in remission without the need for daily ART.
Have There Been Any Breakthroughs?
One reason to hope for a cure for HIV is that experimental treatments seem to have worked in a handful of people already.
What are the two visions of a potential HIV cure?
There are two different visions of a potential HIV cure: treatment-free remission and viral eradication.
What is the mutation in CCR5?
His stem cell donor carried a mutation of an HIV-related gene called CCR5. This mutation makes a person almost completely resistant to infection. Brown was the only person to be cured of HIV until 2019, when two others were effectively cured with a similar stem cell therapy.
How many people with HIV are female?
Another challenge is that males are the subjects of most HIV clinical trials, but about half of people with the virus are female. We need more studies to look at whether treatments will work on women and girls.
How to control HIV without ART?
Many therapies are being studied as a way to control HIV without the need for daily ART. These include antibody therapies and therapeutic vaccines. They don’t prevent infection, but stimulate your own immune system to fight it.
What would be the first part of HIV?
The first part would involve drugs that make the cells in the HIV reservoir multiply and express proteins that are a like a signal to your immune system. The second part would include drugs that detect those protein signals, then seek out and kill the virus.
When is it time to start taking HIV medicines?
People with HIV should start taking HIV medicines as soon as possible after HIV is diagnosed.
What conditions make it especially important to start HIV medicines right away?
The following conditions make it especially important to start HIV medicines right away:
Why is it important to maintain an undetectable viral load?
People with HIV who maintain an undetectable viral load have effectively no risk of transmitting HIV to their HIV-negative partners through sex. To reduce their viral load, it’s important for people with HIV to start taking HIV medicines ...
Why is medication adherence important?
Medication adherence is key to maintaining an undetectable viral load, which protects the immune system and reduces the risk of HIV transmission. Before starting HIV treatment, it’s important to talk to your health care provider about any issues that can make adherence difficult.
What is the best treatment for HIV?
Treatment with HIV medicines (called antiretroviral therapy or ART) is recommended for everyone with HIV. HIV medicines help people with HIV live longer, healthier lives and reduce the risk of HIV transmission.
What is AIDS defining condition?
AIDS-defining conditions are certain infections and cancers that are life-threatening in people with HIV. Having an AIDS-defining condition indicates that a person has the immune system of a person with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS); starting HIV medicines as soon as possible can improve immune function.
Can you get HIV while pregnant?
Women with HIV who become pregnant and are not already taking HIV medicines should start taking HIV medicines as soon as possible. The risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV during pregnancy and childbirth is lowest when a woman with HIV has an undetectable viral load. Maintaining an undetectable viral load also helps keep ...
Diagnosis
Treatment
- 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). Everyone diagnosed with HIV should be started on ART, regardless of their stage of infection or complicati...
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.