Treating HIV

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Treating HIVVideo Description:The AIDS virus, HIV, is not curable, but its progression and effects can be tempered with more medical options than ever before! Transcript:HIV is incurable and can lead to the potentially deadly disease AIDS. The GOOD news is that medications can slow the spread of HIV, and allow people who are infected to remain healthier for longer. To understand how medications work, it’s helpful to understand the life cycle of HIV.   This cyclical process begins when HIV enters the body and attaches to receptors on T-cells located in the immune system. One group of anti-HIV medications, entry inhibitors, stops this attaching process. An entry inhibitor binds either to the immune system’s T-cells or to the invading HIV, thereby blocking the virus from bonding with healthy T-cells. Currently, the only FDA-approved entry inhibitor is marketed as Fuzeon, but others are being tested. Two other types of medication work to stop the second part of HIV’s life cycle, reverse transcription. When HIV infects a cell, it copies its genetic code into that cell’s DNA. As a result, the T-cell is “programmed” to create more copies of HIV. But because HIV is in the form of ribonucleic acid, or RNA, it must convert itself to the body’s genetic make-up, which is deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, before it can infect the T-cells. This is what happens during reverse transcription. Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors, or NRTIs, are one type of medication that stops this process, by interfering with the nucleotides, or building blocks, that convert RNA to DNA. In this manner, the new DNA cannot be built, and a cell cannot produce more HIV. The first HIV drug, “AZT,” or Retrovir, is an NRTI medication.  Other FDA-approved NRTIs include Emtriva, and Videx.  Another type of medication which blocks RNA from converting to DNA is called Non-Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors, or NNRTIs.  While NNRTIs have the same mission as NRTIs, they accomplish it differently. HIV cannot transcribe its RNA to DNA without the aid of a transcriptase enzyme. NNRTI medications attach themselves to this enzyme and prevent the virus from converting. Four FDA-approved NNRTI medications, Atripla, Rescriptor, Sustiva, and Viramune, can help stop this conversion process. A final anti-HIV sex works to stop the last step of HIV infection, viral assembly. During viral assembly, a strand of DNA is cut up and put together to form new copies of HIV. This process requires the help of an enzyme called protease. A group of medications called protease inhibitors, or PIs, block the protease enzyme from cutting up the genetic material that will become HIV, thus stopping new cells of the virus from forming. There are ten PI medications on the market, including Aptivus, Kaletra, and Viracept.  While each of these medications is helpful, most people take a combination of prescription drugs in order to most effectively fight HIV’s invasion.  One drug, Atripla, which is known in the vernacular as the “triple cocktail” combines two NNRIs with one NNRTI. This medication is generally considered to be a once-a-day, all-inclusive HIV sex. HIV sex is an individualized process, so it’s important to adhere to your doctor’s instructions when taking medication to ensure that your body remains as healthy as it can for as long as possible! Category:STDs/HIV & AIDS Tags:Health, Medicine, HIV, AIDS, acquired, immunodeficiency, syndrome, virus, penis, vagina, sex, std, condom, immune, system, body, fluids, t-cells, test, opportunistic, semen, blood, sexual, Treating, RNA, AZT, sexually transmitted disease, lymph node, reverse transcription, triple cocktail, SexHealthGuru, Guru,
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