The role of antiretroviral therapy in living long and living well.
We have seen a dramatic increase in the types of antiviral strategies and numbers of specific antiviral agents that have emerged since the early 1980s when infection with the human immunodeficiency virus was first recognized. At the moment, zidovudine is the only drug approved by the FDA for treatment of HIV infection, and its indication is limited only to patients in the most advanced stages of immunodeficiency. Although zidovudine cannot "cure" HIV infection, it can significantly delay the seemingly inexorable course of immune system decline and buy some meaningful time for most HIV-1 infected patients, whether or not they have developed immunodeficiency. Other agents such as interferon alpha and the didoxynucleoside analogues, ddI and ddC, have also shown promise as antiretroviral agents, and it is hoped they will be proved, in the near future, capable of delaying the progression of immune system destruction by HIV-1. Other related treatment modalities such as the use of PCP prophylactic regimens also have succeeded in decreasing the incidence of opportunistic infections and thereby improving survival. It is likely that future strategies will involve the use of alternating, multidrug regimens both to reduce selective pressure for the development of drug resistance and to minimize the toxicity of single-agent therapy. The sum of these developments has been to change the prognosis of HIV infection. A disease once viewed as an automatic death warrant is now in the process of becoming a chronic, potentially long-term treatable illness.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda.
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D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy*; D015224:Dideoxynucleosides / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D007370:Interferon Type I / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008136:Longevity; D011788:Quality of Life; D015215:Zidovudine / Q000627:therapeutic use
D015224:Dideoxynucleosides; D007370:Interferon Type I; D015215:Zidovudine