Antiretroviral drug in the context of Opportunistic infections


Antiretroviral drug in the context of Opportunistic infections

⭐ Core Definition: Antiretroviral drug

The management of HIV/AIDS normally includes the use of multiple antiretroviral drugs as a strategy to control HIV infection. There are several classes of antiretroviral agents that act on different stages of the replication cycle of HIV. The use of multiple drugs that act on different viral targets is known as highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). HAART decreases the patient's total burden of HIV, maintains function of the immune system, and prevents opportunistic infections that often lead to death. HAART also prevents the transmission of HIV between serodiscordant same-sex and opposite-sex partners so long as the HIV-positive partner maintains an undetectable viral load.

Treatment has been so successful that in many parts of the world, HIV has become a chronic condition in which progression to AIDS is increasingly rare. Anthony Fauci, former head of the United States National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has written, "With collective and resolute action now and a steadfast commitment for years to come, an AIDS-free generation is indeed within reach." In the same paper, he noted that an estimated 700,000 lives were saved in 2010 alone by antiretroviral therapy. As another commentary noted, "Rather than dealing with acute and potentially life-threatening complications, clinicians are now confronted with managing a chronic disease that in the absence of a cure will persist for many decades."

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Antiretroviral drug in the context of UNICEF

UNICEF (/ˈjniˌsɛf/ YOO-nee-SEF), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide. The organization is one of the most widely known and visible social welfare entities globally, operating in 192 countries and territories. UNICEF's activities include providing immunizations and disease prevention, administering treatment for children and mothers with HIV, enhancing childhood and maternal nutrition, improving sanitation, promoting education, and providing emergency relief in response to disasters.

UNICEF is the successor of the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, and was created on 11 December 1946, in New York, by the U.N. Relief Rehabilitation Administration to provide immediate relief to children and mothers affected by World War II. The same year, the United Nations General Assembly established UNICEF to further institutionalize post-war relief work. In 1950, its mandate was extended to address the long-term needs of children and women, particularly in developing countries. In 1953, the organization became a permanent part of the United Nations System, and its name was changed to United Nations Children's Fund, though it retains the UNICEF acronym.

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Antiretroviral drug in the context of AIDS denialism

HIV/AIDS denialism is the belief, despite evidence to the contrary, that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) does not cause acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Some of its proponents reject the existence of HIV, while others accept that HIV exists but argue that it is a harmless passenger virus and not the cause of AIDS. Insofar as they acknowledge AIDS as a real disease, they attribute it to some combination of sexual behavior, recreational drugs, malnutrition, poor sanitation, haemophilia, or the effects of the medications used to treat HIV infection (antiretrovirals).

The scientific consensus is that the evidence showing HIV to be the cause of AIDS is conclusive and that HIV/AIDS denialist claims are pseudoscience based on conspiracy theories, faulty reasoning, cherry picking, and misrepresentation of mainly outdated scientific data. As evidence mounted against denialism, combined with those with HIV/AIDS living much longer, these claims stopped being believed. With the rejection of these arguments by the scientific community, HIV/AIDS denialist material is now targeted at less scientifically sophisticated audiences and spread mainly through the Internet, increased substantially since the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Antiretroviral drug in the context of Morbilliform

The term morbilliform refers to a rash that looks like measles. The rash consists of macular lesions that are red and usually 2–10 mm in diameter but may be confluent in places. A morbilliform rash is a rose-red flat (macular) or slightly elevated (maculopapular) eruption, showing circular or elliptical lesions varying in diameter from 1 to 3 mm, with healthy-looking skin intervening.

Patients with measles will have the rash but there are other syndromes and infections that will display the same symptom such as patients with Kawasaki disease, meningococcal petechiae or Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome, Dengue, Roseola, congenital syphilis, rubella, Echovirus 9, drug hypersensitivity reactions (in particular with certain classes of antiretroviral drugs, such as abacavir and nevirapine, and also the antiepileptic drug phenytoin), or other conditions may also have a morbilliform rash. It is usually present in drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS syndrome) following a prodrome of fever, malaise, throat pain with dysphagia, and itching. It has also been mentioned as a possible manifestation of onset or recovery from COVID-19.

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