title: Review: Comprehensive review on treatment of HIV.
abstract: HIV or AIDS is a major threat for humanity in the world especially in developing countries. The causative factor of the syndrome is HIV, which infects and destroys one of the cellular components of the immune system, the T cells, causing deficiency in the immunological surveillance and ultimately leading to AIDS. According to WHO, around 35 million people were living with HIV in 2013 and since the start of epidemic 39 million people have died due to AIDS. Center for disease control and prevention estimated in 2014 that 1,201,100 people aged 13 and above were suffering from HIV infection Worldwide. The most effective approach is the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) containing the combined use of drugs having different mechanisms of action. However, complete eradication of HIV from the body does not occur by HAART, but it lead to long term toxicity occurs and emerges as drug resistant. Despite the recent development of various new antiretroviral compounds, there is still a need to develop need to search for new alternatives which are equally efficient and less expensive as compared to the contemporary treatment available. This review provides an overview and a summary of herbal medicines for HIV infection and summarized the efficacy and medicinal use of different plants used in the treatment of HIV infection. The objective of this review is to enlighten the recent advances in the exploration of medicinal plants used for treatment of HIV/AIDS.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Eastern Medicine and Surgery, Hamdard University, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Daniyal
authors.affiliation: Department of Eastern Medicine and Surgery, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, The University of Poonch, Rawalakot, Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Akram
authors.affiliation: Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, The University of Poonch, Rawalakot, Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Abdul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hamid
authors.affiliation: First Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan.
authors.forename: Allah
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nawaz
authors.affiliation: Research and Development Department, Herbion Pakistan (Pvt.) Limited, Korangi Industrial Area, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Khan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Usmanghani
authors.affiliation: University College of Agriculture, University of Sargodha, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Saeed
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Eastern Medicine and Surgery, Hamdard University, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Leena
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hameed
mesh_terms: D023241:Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008517:Phytotherapy; D010946:Plants, Medicinal