AIDS treatment: where are we?

Currently, AIDS still kills thousands of people. Researchers move slowly in their draft vaccine against AIDS, there is great hope but no promises can be issued. Today, WHO has issued a new treatment strategy to improve certain aspects of management ...

AIDS or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease secondary to infection with HIV. It is characterized by the progressive deterioration of the immune defense of the body, leading to the onset of many diseases and opportunistic infections.

The disease AIDS is the final stage of the evolution of HIV infection and moved after several years (between 10 to 15 years). It is at this stage that appear all signs and opportunistic diseases that reflect the weakened immunity such as tuberculosis, Kaposi's sarcoma or herpes infections.

Currently, there is still no specific treatment that can cure AIDS. Retroviral triple therapy have essentially improved the health of many sick people. However, if their effectiveness is discussed, their cost is often a barrier to starting an effective management, especially in developing countries. While the treatment requires regular drug intake and long-term in order to avoid the phenomenon of resistance viruses.

Furthermore, for the prevention, the initiative is launched and vaccine research is still ongoing, but researchers make no promises about it.

Today, new guidelines were issued by the World Health Organization concerning the early management of the disease. If before, the treatment does not usually starts from the knowledge of HIV today, the WHO recommends that all HIV-positive people are treated early, even before the infection lead to AIDS-stage disease. In fact, according to studies validated by WHO, early treatment of people with HIV can lengthen life but also to avoid the facilitation of contamination in others. According to the same recommendations, all persons at risk should also receive specific support such as children under five years of age, pregnant or lactating women with HIV, the partner is HIV positive and HIV-positive people with virus infections Hepatitis B.