HIV Patients Living Longer with Improved Treatment

HIV AIDS” by Kevin Simmons licensed under CC BY 2.0

Source: CNN

Researchers at Bristol University in the United Kingdom have found that young people living with HIV are living longer, thanks to new treatment.

The study reports that HIV patients in their early 20s who undergo current antiretroviral treatments are predicted to live up to 10 years longer compared to those who started the therapy in the early 1990s.

Since the improved treatment presents fewer side effects for patients, researchers hope the treatment can help HIV-positive individuals in impoverished countries.

“Our research illustrates a success story of how improved HIV treatments coupled with screening, prevention and treatment of health problems associated with HIV infection can extend the life span of people diagnosed with HIV,” stated Adam Trickey, a medical statistician at the University of Bristol.

Added Trickey, “Combination antiretroviral therapy has been used to treat HIV for 20 years, but newer drugs have fewer side effects, involve taking fewer pills, better prevent replication of the virus and are more difficult for the virus to become resistant to.”

Read the full story at: CNN

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