Strategies for HIV therapy

April 2008    View PDF    En español

What is HIV and HIV disease?

HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, infects and takes over certain cells of your immune system, which is your body’s defense for fighting infections and diseases. Once these cells are infected, HIV uses them to make new copies of itself (replication) and then go on to infect other cells. Infected cells function poorly and die prematurely, which in turn weakens the immune system. This allows opportunistic infections to develop, which take the opportunity to thrive while your immune system is damaged.

HIV disease is a broad term that refers to having HIV infection, from the earliest stage right after infection to later stages of disease. AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) occurs later in HIV disease when the immune system has become severely weakened. An AIDS diagnosis depends upon the state of your immune health or an AIDS-defining condition(s).

Once HIV was identified as the cause of AIDS, stopping or slowing its replication became a major goal. Significant progress has been made over the past 20 years, especially with the advent of potent HIV drugs and combination therapy. Though these drugs do not eliminate HIV, they’ve made it possible to develop long-term strategies for managing HIV disease.

It’s important to remember that people can live a long time, without symptoms of HIV disease. Still, some questions remain around when to start, when to switch or how best to combine HIV drugs. Making wise decisions about how best to use therapy requires understanding the risks and benefits of HIV drugs, discussing these issues with an informed doctor, and properly using various lab tests.