Human immunodeficiency virus also abbreviated as the HIV, is spreading like an epidemic all over the world. No country or state has been left untouched by its influence. And the worst of all is that no vaccine or drug all over the world has been developed which can cure infection caused by this ruinous virus. HIV drugs also known as the antiretroviral drugs or the anti-HIV drugs are to be taken throughout life by an HIV positive individual.

The functions performed by the HIV drugs are:

• To reduce the amount of HIV present in the body in various forms like blood, semen etc.
• To put a halt on the weakening of the immune system
• To keep a check on the replication of the virus and allow the body to recover against the infection caused by the virus.

There are around 20 types of HIV drugs known to mankind. According to the way in which they attack the HIV during its life cycle can be classified into five categories as:

• Nucleoside/Nucleotide Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NRTIs): it is an important drug which prevents HIV infection from further spreading by interfering with the functioning of the reverse transcriptase (an HIV protein) which is responsible for replication of the virus in the body. Thus if this protein is under control then HIV infection does not continue and is stopped where it is.
• Non-Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NNRTIs):this is an important drug responsible for inhibiting HIV action and prevents it from multiplying within the cell by inhibiting the reverse transcriptase enzyme.
• Protease inhibitor(PI):they are responsible for inhibiting the action of the protease enzyme which is responsible for HIV multiplication
• Fusion or entry inhibitors (EI): as the name suggests these drugs inhibit the HIV from entering into the cells of the immune system like the helper T cells etc.
• Integrase inhibitor (II): it is an important HIV drug and inhibits the integrase enzyme which is needed by the HIV to transfer its genetic material basically DNA into the human cells thus, preventing the infection.
• Maturation inhibitors (MI): this drug is under examination but its main function is to break off the viral capsid polyprotein.
The above specified HIV drugs are taken in the form multiple pills and this is generally referred to as the combination therapy.

Combination therapy:
Taking two or more anti-HIV drugs at a particular time is referred to as combination therapy. Whereas, taking a combination of three or more antiretroviral drugs is referred to as Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART). The combination therapy is used to keep a check on the replication of the virus and can be explained as: if only one drug is taken, then HIV would become adapted and resistant to it easily and the drug would stop working. Whereas taking two or more drugs at the same time would result in the reduction in rate at which resistance would develop. Thus making the treatment more effective.

The HIV drugs have various side effects like:


• Diarrhea
• Dizziness
• Liver failure
• Vomiting
• Hepatitis
• Anemia
And various others thus one should stick to those drugs which do not cause them harm as the drugs are for treatment and not further complications.