It can prevent HIV/AIDS even during unprotected sex at times

HIV antiretroviral drug is the main treatment for HIV/AIDS. It is not a cure but helps in containing the disease thus preserving the life of an infected individual for years. This drug helps in containing the virus by decreasing the viral load (number of virus in the affected individual) thus increasing his or her lifespan to one third that of an uninfected person.

Recent studies have shown that anti HIV drugs greatly reduce the risk of spreading the virus. Statistic even has it that HIV diagnosis fell by 3% for every one hundred patients put on anti retro-viral drugs. Recent findings estimate that administering these drugs to HIV positive individuals can reduce the transmission of HIV/AIDS up to 96%.

A recent study on HIV/AIDS carried out on couples further backs the theory that anti retro-viral drugs reduce the risk of HIV transmission efficiently. In this study 1,673 couples were enrolled, in which only one partner was affected with the virus. 890 men and 873 women in this group were HIV positive. All the HIV positive patients had their CD4 counts between 350-550 at the beginning of the study. CD4 count is a measure of the severity of the infection.

Half the couples selected were given the appropriate anti retro-viral drugs whereas the other half had their treatment differed until their CD4 count was below 350. All the subjects were then educated on save sex, given condoms for free and treated for any sexually transmitted disease that occurred during the study.

The results of this study showed that;

-39 people in the enrolled couples were diagnosed to have newly contracted the disease.

-Only 28 of these infections above clearly were transmitted from the enrolled infected partners to their uninfected partners. This was so because the genes of the HIV virus were genetically identical in both partners.

-Of the 28 infected individuals, 27 were those who received the differed treatment hence, only one person from the group that received the appropriate treatment became infected with the virus. (Los Angeles Times: May 13, 2011)

To conclude, Anti HIV drugs are efficient in preventing the spread of the disease because these drugs greatly reduce the viral load thus making it difficult if not impossible for the virus to spread. For one to get the full benefit of these drugs, they must be administered appropriately with the right dosage respected.

Reference:

Thomas .H. Los Angeles Times. May 13, 2011