What Treatments Are Available For HIV And AIDS?

When AIDS first surfaced in the United States, no drugs were available to combat the underlying immune deficiency, and few treatments existed for the opportunistic infections that resulted. Over the past 10 years, however, therapies have been developed to fight both HIV infection and its associated infections and cancers.

Although there is no treatment currently available that can cure people of HIV or AIDS, a number of therapies have been developed to help them stay healthier and live longer.

• Some medications target HIV itself, to reduce the virus's assault on the immune system, or to even prevent the virus from entering human immune cells.
• Other treatments are used to treat or prevent specific opportunistic infections that threaten the health of people with HIV-damaged immune systems.