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HAART Means Better Results
For HIV AIDS Medicines

You may have heard the combination of drugs effective in controlling HIV AIDS as a drug cocktail. The discovery, in the mid 1990s, that combining medications results in better outcomes for patients was the basis for HAART therapy. It was this breakthrough that brought the disease under control:

Highly
Active
Anti
Retroviral
Therapy

Better Treatments Means Longer Life Expectancy

When the AIDS epidemic was first recognized, in the mid 80s, the diagnosis meant death within a relatively short time frame. When AZT was introduced it brought the first glimmer of hope for effective treatment, but it was soon found that the virus adapted to the drug making it ineffective over time.

New drugs were approved in the 1990s that attacked the virus in different ways. When these drugs were used together with AZT, the HIV virus was kept under control.

Combining Therapies

The current treatments for HIV & AIDS involves choosing at least 3 drugs from that work against the virus in two different categories. Normally these would include two NNRTIs and one protease inhibitor. The exact drugs that are used depend on on each patients ability to tolerate the drugs.

HAART Works

The combined HAART approach has changed the AIDS virus from a swift killer to a chronic disease that can be treated on an outpatient basis. While researchers continue to work to discover a vaccine or a cure for this worldwide scourge, patients who add the cocktail of anti-retroviral drugs to their daily routine have a much better quality of life than anyone hoped for in the 1980s when the AIDS epidemic was new.

Also see-> Sexually Transmitted Diseases | Men's Health

World AIDS Day

This information is intended as reference and not as medical advice.
All treatment decisions should be made by medical professionals.