Antiretroviral
Drugs in the Treatment of HIV
Antiretroviral
drugs (anti-HIV drugs or HIV antiviral drugs) are currently the
main weapon in the fight against HIV. Such drugs have to be taken
indefinitely, and although not a cure, can prevent the onset of
illness for many years. They treat the HIV infection directly, and
basically act by slowing down the reproduction of HIV in the body.
A minimum of
two, and usually three antiretroviral drugs, are taken in combination.
This prolongs the effectiveness of the treatment by reducing the
rate at which resistance
to the drugs develops.
This website
will look at HIV and the three main types of antiretrovirals: Nucleoside
Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NRTIs), Non-Nucleoside
Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NNRTIs) and Protease
Inhibitors (PIs). There are also other classes of drugs and
new drugs are constantly being developed.
Comments
and Feedback
This
website was created by:
Kirsty Levasseur
School
of Chemistry
University of Bristol
UK
Please feel
free to contact me by e-mail: kl0330@bris.ac.uk
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