HIV Information

 Is there a cure for AIDS?

There is still no cure for AIDS. And while new drugs are helping many people with HIV/AIDS live longer, healthier lives, there are many problems associated with them:

·       Anti-HIV drugs are highly toxic and can cause serious side effects, including heart damage, kidney failure, and osteoporosis. Many (perhaps even most) patients cannot tolerate long-term treatment with HAART. 

·       HIV mutates quickly. In as many as 50% of people on HAART, HIV mutates into new viral strains that have become highly resistant to current drugs, and as many as 10% of newly infected Americans are acquiring drug-resistant strains of the virus.

·       Because treatment regimens are unpleasant and complex, many patients miss doses of their medication. Failure to take anti-HIV drugs on schedule and in the prescribed dosage encourages the development of new viral strains that are resistant to current HIV drugs.

·       Even among those who do respond well to treatment, HAART does not eradicate HIV. The virus continues to replicate at low levels and often remains hidden in "reservoirs" in the body, such as the lymph nodes and brain.