Evolution of HIV-AIDS - Essay Example

The first clinically effective antiretroviral compound was approved by the Food and drug administration (FDA) in 1987. The compound, a thymidine analogue, azidothymidine, (AZT), inhibited HIV replication by terminating reverse transcription, an important step in the virus lifecycle. However, by 1989, it was recognized that benefits from single-drug treatments were only transient due to the rapid emergence of drug-resistant variants (Larder,1989). The development of HIV inhibitors in the early 1990s targeting both reverse transcriptase and protease led to the use of combination drug treatments that were more effective in the long-term control of HIV infection (Cheeseman, 1995).

Three or more drug combinations became known as Highly Affective Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART). Due to the success of HAART, there was a sharp decline in the number of AIDS-related deaths in the US. However, the number of newly HIV-infected individuals continued to rise. Today, approximately 33.3 million people worldwide are living with HIV and 20 million people have died. AIDS is the leading cause of death in Africa and the fourth largest killer worldwide (UNAIDS, 2010).

Since many countries lack the funds needed to obtain sufficient quantities of antiretroviral and lack the patient care infrastructure necessary to administer these regimes and educate patients about HIV/AIDS prevention, their societies are most threatened by the disease pandemic. In more developed nations, the emergence and spread of combination drug-resistant HIV variants have complicated control of the epidemic. Prevention of antiretroviral drug resistance in patients requires at least 90% adherence to HAART (King, 2005).