Thoughts from the medicos?
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
Quick thoughts: "Combination therapy" sounds like a euphemism for an "evolutionary" expensive new drug cocktail rather than a "revolutionary" new development. The article is unclear, but my initial guess is that it will merely prolong life for over existing anti-retroviral vaccines rather than reducing HIV to a lifetime "chronic" state. I'll take a closer look at the source, time permitting.
Posted by baduffer (Member # 10469) on :
Combination therapy is not new, it has been around for a number of years. People that I know on it have had remarkable recoveries from the point of death to normal lives. Their CD4 counts are in the normal range and the viral loads are undetectable. It is expensive, it has to be taken every day for the rest of their lives (or drug resistance can happen) but it allows for a normal life without great fear of all the opportunistic diseases that show up as your immune system is compromised. One of the concerns however is that no one knows the long term consequences of taking these drugs. I know people that have been on one type of HIV medication or another for 15 years and their great fear is what is what is it doing that they do not know about yet but they are very happy with what they have today.