Combo Therapy Boosts HIV Life Expectancy

Study Shows HIV Patients Are Living Longer Since Start Of Antiretroviral Drug Therapy Troubling Trend in HIV/AIDS Diagnoses Self-Cutting Linked to Risky Teen Sex FDA Probes Heart Risk From 2 HIV Drugs (WebMD) A 20-year-old diagnosed with HIV can now expect to live 13 years longer than the same person diagnosed with the virus that causes AIDS in 1996, according to a new study on HIV life expectancy. Researchers credit the dramatic rise in life expectancy for people with HIV to advances in the "gold standard" for HIV treatment: combination antiretroviral drug therapy. The therapy utilizes a cocktail of various drugs that targets the virus in different ways to lower the level of HIV circulating in the body. The mix of drugs in the cocktail is modified as the virus becomes resistant or side effects of the HIV treatment become... [read full story]