What are antiretroviral drugs? What is its use?
HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that attacks the body's immune system.. If HIV is not treated, it can lead to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome).. Antiretroviral drugs or antiretroviral drugs are prescribed to treat HIV.. They do not kill, but nowadays they can keep the body's immune system strong enough to fight the virus.... Article From the magazine GCORP LLC, we review antiretroviral drugs and explain how they work.... Stay tuned for the rest of this article.
Table of Contents
- Mechanism of Antiretroviral Drugs
- Types of Antiretroviral Drugs
- 1... Entry/Binding Inhibitors
- 2... Non-trans Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NRTIs) script.... inhibitors (NNRTIs)
- 4.... protease inhibitors (PIs)
- 5.... integrase inhibitors
- 6.... pharmacokinetic enhancers
The mechanism of action of antiretroviral drugs
HIV depletes your immune system's CD4 T cells and makes you sick.. When these cells are depleted, your body's ability to fight disease is reduced and you become vulnerable to a wide range of opportunistic infections.
HIV is a retrovirus that spreads by entering the cells of the host's body and replicating itself, so it can destroy the immune system over time... Research on the effectiveness of antiretroviral drugs shows that these drugs prevent HIV from multiplying and thus reduce the amount of virus in the body.
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Although antiretroviral drugs suppress HIV, the virus can remain latent in tissues throughout the body and recur if treatment is stopped.. In addition, if the drugs are not taken regularly or as prescribed by the doctor, the virus may mutate and become resistant to the drug, which ultimately leads to a decrease in the effectiveness of antiretroviral drugs and treatment failure.
Types of antiretroviral drugs
The use of antiretroviral drugs to treat HIV is called antiviral therapy or antiretroviral therapy (ART). You can see the list of antiretroviral drugs in the table below:
1... Login/Connection Blockers
HIV must bind to cellular proteins to enter immune cells.... These antiretroviral drugs prevent the virus from binding to cellular proteins and preventing it from entering the cell.. As a result, HIV cannot replicate.. Entry/binding inhibitors are prescribed when other treatments are ineffective.
2...Nucleoside reverse transcription inhibitors (NRTIs)
HIV uses an enzyme called reverse transcriptase to replicate... NRTI drugs, as their name suggests,
They inhibit the activity of reverse transcriptase enzyme.
3... Non-Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NNRTI)
Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors also affect reverse transcriptase activity, but their mode of action is different from NRTIs. Unlike NRTIs, NNRTIs do not bind to viral DNA, but directly bind to the enzyme and inhibit its activity.
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4... Protease inhibitors (PIs)
HIV needs an enzyme called protease to reproduce. PIs prevent the production of new viruses by inhibiting this enzyme.
5.... integrase inhibitors
HIV uses an enzyme called integrase to integrate its genetic material with the DNA of cells. Integrase inhibitors prevent this process.
6... Pharmacokinetic enhancers
These drugs increase the concentration of protease inhibitors in the bloodstream... If pharmacokinetic enhancing drugs are not used, the concentration of protease inhibitors will decrease rapidly and the virus will have a chance to multiply.
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Advantages of antiretroviral drugs
Antiretroviral drugs prevent HIV from multiplying and disease progression... Although these drugs cannot eliminate HIV from the body, they can prevent infection and some HIV-related cancers by strengthening the body's immune system.
Antiretroviral therapy shows its beneficial effects by reducing the amount of HIV in the blood.. Viral suppression occurs when the amount is reduced to less than 200 copies per milliliter of blood.. When the viral load is reduced enough to be undetectable by current laboratory technologies, HIV can no longer harm the immune system.. They arrive.
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Side effects of antiretroviral drugs
Antiviral drugs can have side effects.. Most of these side effects are manageable, but some can be serious.. Newer drugs usually have fewer side effects.
Depending on the type of drug a person uses, the side effects are different.. Sometimes, a drug causes different side effects in different people... The most common side effects of antiretroviral drugs are:
- Headache
- Nausea and vomiting
- diarrhea
- fatigue
- Difficulty sleeping dry mouth
- Hives
- dizziness
- Pain
People who experience severe or persistent side effects should talk to their doctor about changing the dose or type of medication.. These patients should not stop the drug by themselves, because stopping the drug increases the speed of HIV replication and the risk of infection.
Antiretroviral drugs also have long-term side effects, which include:
- Depression
- Diabetes
- heart disease Kidney damage
- Hepatic damage
- nerve damage Weakening of the bones or osteoporosis
- Increasing blood fat
Very serious side effects that require emergency care include:
- Severe fatigue
- Fever or chills
- Persistent vomiting
- Severe rash
People who experience swelling of the face, throat, or tongue should go to the emergency room immediately.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Do antiretroviral drugs kill the virus?Antiretroviral drugs do not kill the virus, but suppress various stages of its life cycle....by doing so, the virus's ability to replicate is destroyed....if treatment continues uninterrupted, the viral population will reach a point where it is unstoppable by laboratory technologies..
What drugs do antiretroviral drugs interact with?Antiretroviral drugs can interact with many drugs, nutritional supplements, and herbal products.. Therefore, you should give your doctor a list of all the drugs and supplements you are taking. If you do, you should talk to your doctor about other birth control methods.
When should you start taking antiretroviral drugs?Ideally, you should start antiretroviral therapy the day you get an HIV test.. infection or some types of cancer.
Final word about antiretroviral drugs
Antiviral drugs are an effective treatment for HIV.... These drugs reduce the risk of HIV-related complications and prevent the virus from multiplying and transmitting it to others... They can also improve people's quality of life and increase life expectancy.
Sometimes, the use of antiretroviral drugs is associated with side effects... These effects often disappear after a few days or weeks... If this does not happen, you should see a doctor... An infectious disease specialist can give you more information about antiretroviral drugs... We recommend visiting GCORP. LLC.
Sources: verywellhealth, verywellhealth, medicalnewstoday
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