Question

Treating HIV infection with multiple drugs at the same time is advisable because

• different strains of HIV may exist in the same person.

• overcoming the effects of multiple drugs would require a virus to acquire multiple mutations simultaneously.

• the treatment is cheaper because multiple drugs can be administered at the same time.

• one drug slows the multiplcation of HIV while a second can clear it from the body, curing a person of the infection.

Answer 1

1. Treating HIV infection with multiple at the same time is advisable because the use of multiple antiretroviral drugs in an attempt to control HIV infection. There are several classes of antiretroviral agents that act on different stages of the HIV life-cycle. The use of multiple drugs that act on different viral targets is known as highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). HAART decreases the patient's total burden of HIV, maintains function of the immune system, and prevents opportunistic infections that often lead to death.
[1] HAART also prevents the transmission of HIV between serodiscordant same sex and opposite sex partners so long as the HIV-positive partner maintains an undetectable viral load.
[2].Treatment has been so successful that in many parts of the world, HIV has become a chronic condition in which progression to AIDS is increasingly rare.

2.Overcoming the effects of multiple drugs would not require a virus to acquire multiple mutations because of HIV Because of HIV's tendency to mutate, when patients who have started an antiretrovial regimen fail to take it regularly, resistance can develop. On the other hand, patients who take their medications regularly can stay on one regimen without developing resistance. This greatly increases life expectancy and leaves more drugs available to the individual should the need arise.

antiretroviralcombination therapy defends against resistance by creating multiple obstacles to HIV replication. This keeps the number of viral copies low and reduces the possibility of a superior mutation.If a mutation that conveys resistance to one of the drugs arises, the other drugs continue to suppress reproduction of that mutation. With rare exceptions, no individual antiretroviral drug has been demonstrated to suppress an HIV infection for long; these agents must be taken in combinations in order to have a lasting effect.

3.The cost of HIV treatment is a complicated issue with an extremely wide range of costs due to varying factors such as the type of antiretroviral therapy and the country in which the treatment is administered. The first line therapy of HIV, or the initial antiretroviral drug regimen for an HIV-infected patient, is generally cheaper than subsequent second-line or third-line therapies.

[1] There is also a great variability of drug prices among low, middle, and high income countries. In general, low-income countries have the lowest cost of antiretroviral therapy, while middle- and high-income tend to have considerably higher costs.

[2] Certain prices of HIV drugs may be high and difficult to afford due to patent barriers on antiretroviral drugs and slow regulatory approval for drugs.

[3] which may lead to indirect consequences such as greater HIV drug resistance

[4] and an increased number of opportunistic infections

.[5] Government and activist movements have taken efforts to limit the price of HIV drugs.[

4. MULTIPLE DRUGS cannot cure the person with infection it reduces the risk of disease progression and prevents the transmission of HIV.