HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, is an infection that causes damage to the body’s immune system. This limits the body’s ability to fight other infections and disease. HIV is spread through contact with infected blood and bodily fluids from other individuals that have HIV. HIV can lead to a person developing AIDS. HIV is incurable but there are FDA approved HIV medicine and treatments that can keep HIV from progressing and lessen any impact to a person’s life.

Some patients remain asymptomatic until the infection has grown severe, so the following FDA-approved treatments are vital to slow or stop the virus’ spread in the body:

1. NNRTIs and NRTIs
Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) and Nucleoside or nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) prevent HIV from replicating and spreading throughout the body. HIV spreads through reverse transcriptase which means that it converts its RNA into DNA (called reverse transcription). NNRTIs/NRTIs block this process, prohibiting replication and avoiding further damage to the body’s immune system.

2. Integrase inhibitors
Integrase inhibitors like dolutegravir and raltegravir are HIV treatment medicines that are designed to stop the spread of HIV in the body. Similar to NNRTIs and NRTIs, integrase inhibitors act by blocking HIV integrase, an enzyme required for HIV to complete transcriptase replication.

3. Protease inhibitors
Protease inhibitors(PIs) like atazanavir, ritonavir, and darunavir are medicines that are designed to stop the spread of the HIV virus by blocking a specific enzyme that allows for replication. Similar to how integrase inhibitors target HIV integrase, protease inhibitors target the HIV protease enzyme which blocks the ability of the virus to replicate.

4. Entry or fusion inhibitors
Entry or fusion inhibitors include drugs such as enfuvirtide and function by blocking HIV enzymes from entering CD4 T lymphocyte cells. HIV enzymes cause damage to the immune system by entering the CD4 T cells and damaging or destroying them. By inhibiting this process, the progression of HIV in the body is slowed or halted outright.

5. Combination drugs
A combination drug treatment is a HIV 1 treatment that is developed to include two or more other FDA approved HIV treatments. Often different types of inhibitors, such as integrase and protease inhibitors, are used in conjunction to discourage viral replication. In many cases, a cocktail of drugs including antiretroviral therapy ART is prescribed to achieve the desired effect of keeping the viral load low, stopping the progression of the infection, and reducing the risk that the infection can be spread to others.. HIV is a complex medical condition and the treatment has to be tailored to each individual.