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AIDS\HIV INFECTION: TREATMENT
New drugs are being trialled all over the world, with the hope of a breakthrough in fighting this disease. In the meantime there are some treatments available. Certain drugs, such as AZT have been found to alter the rate of progression of the disease.
A person with AIDS usually suffers from infections with other bugs. These are called ‘opportunistic infections’, which means that they infect the person more easily because HIV has damaged the body’s natural immune system. That means a person who has AIDS may require antibiotics for lung infections, or creams for skin infections, etc. These treatments are not aimed at getting rid of the AIDS virus, because they can’t. They are there to treat the opportunistic infections as they arise, and are often successful until late in the disease, when the body has so few defence cells left that no amount of antibiotics can help.
Researchers are also trying to develop a vaccine against the virus, in the same way that we have vaccines against other diseases, like measles and polio. It would be a big help.
Alternative therapies, dietary manipulations and lifestyle changes may have a significant role to play in at least modifying, if not treating the disease. So far there are no hard and fast guarantees, but there are many individual stories which give hope.
People who are HIV positive, and people who have AIDS require medical treatment which at the moment is specialised. They will usually be directed to specialist clinics or doctors, and will require regular follow up and treatment.
‘Treatment’ of a person who is HIV positive, or who has AIDS should involve the whole person. It is not simply a matter of looking at the white blood cells. How a person is affected by a disease, in a physical, social and emotional sense, is very important. HIV infection, because of its nature, often has an enormous impact on the lives of people who are infected, as well as those close to them. It is important that their needs are met. Making individual help available, as well as educating the public in the realities, rather than the rumours about HIV and AIDS, may help to do this.
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