=======Whats good with hiv?=======?!

There is currently no vaccine or cure for HIV or AIDS!. The only known method of prevention is avoiding exposure to the virus!. However, a course of antiretroviral treatment administered immediately after exposure, referred to as post-exposure prophylaxis, is believed to reduce the risk of infection if begun as quickly as possible !.Current treatment for HIV infection consists of highly active antiretroviral therapy, or HAART!.This has been highly beneficial to many HIV-infected individuals since its introduction in 1996, when the protease inhibitor-based HAART initially became available!. Current HAART options are combinations (or "cocktails") consisting of at least three drugs belonging to at least two types, or "classes," of antiretroviral agents!. Typically, these classes are two nucleoside analogue reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NARTIs or NRTIs) plus either a protease inhibitor or a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI)!. New classes of drugs such as Entry Inhibitors provide treatment options for patients who are infected with viruses already resistant to common therapies, although they are not widely available and not typically accessible in resource-limited settings!. Because AIDS progression in children is more rapid and less predictable than in adults, particularly in young infants, more aggressive treatment is recommended for children than adults!. In developed countries where HAART is available, doctors assess their patients thoroughly: measuring the viral load, how fast CD4 declines, and patient readiness!. They then decide when to recommend starting treatment!.
HAART neither cures the patient nor does it uniformly remove all symptoms; high levels of HIV-1, often HAART resistant, return if treatment is stopped!.] Moreover, it would take more than a lifetime for HIV infection to be cleared using HAART!.Despite this, many HIV-infected individuals have experienced remarkable improvements in their general health and quality of life, which has led to a large reduction in HIV-associated morbidity and mortality in the developed world!.One study suggests the average life expectancy of an HIV infected individual is 32 years from the time of infection if treatment is started when the CD4 count is 350/

---

---