Currently, the drugs available to combat HIV

Antiviral therapy
Currently, the drugs available to combat HIV infection are the reverse transcriptase inhibitors and the protease inhibitors. The reverse transcriptase inhibitors indirectly prevent the viral genome from becoming incorporated in the DNA of the human host cell, as these drugs block an important enzyme for DNA synthesis – reverse transcriptase. The protease inhibitors block protease, a central enzyme responsible for forming new viruses. Nowadays the two types of drug are used in combination. Both help to keep down the level of virus in the blood and lymph nodes and in this way they slow down the progress of the disease. Huge advances have been achieved in the treatment of HIV infection in the last few years. In the early nineties, antiviral therapy was used only in the advanced stages of HIV infection. Nowadays treatment is begun early in the hope: (1) of stopping further proliferation of the virus and destruction of the immune system, thus halting the progress of the disease; (2) of suppressing the formation of resistant HIV variants; (3) of reducing proneness to infection. Studies have shown that in HIV-positive pregnant women, the risk of transmitting the virus to the baby can be greatly reduced by use of antiviral therapy.Nowadays therapy is begun with two different reverse transcriptase inhibitors and one protease inhibitor.