Improved treatments of HIV: Massive strides in the making

HIV treatments have improved vastly over the last few decades and the trajectory of improvement is only becoming steeper. Specifically looking at patient frailty, there have been massive strides in recent years. Historically, patients with HIV/AIDS would age 10-15 years in appearance and function once they began treatment. Similarly, disfiguring body mass changes would befall patients. However, a recent study has revealed that a few years of anti-retroviral treatment is able to actually rehabilitate patients to a state without extreme frailty. A “frailty meter” which judged frailty using motion sensors that tracked range of motion and weight bearing abilities. These kinds of side effects are beginning to look as though they are a thing of the past, a physical, visible and tangible marker for medical improvements. These anti-retroviral treatments are also immensely more efficient and less harmful than previous versions, with doses being administered in three pills rather than twenty and few to no side effects. 

These advancements offer the possibility that in the future HIV/AIDS may become manageable to live with for most people afflicted by it. Luckily, advancements in pharmaceuticals have also been paired with advancements in clinical care. Certain clinics such as the Petersen Clinic offer advanced, intense HIV counseling as well as opportunities to be at the forefront of biomedical intervention. In essence, as more is known about the disease on the whole, more steps have been taken to support patients with HIV/AIDS medically and socially.

-India Robinson

For more information visit: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190227124843.htm