HIV Antiretroviral Drugs

Infectious diseases are a prominent cause of death, accounting for roughly one third of all deaths worldwide as a direct consequence of risky human behavior, fast paced lifestyle, increased travel, inappropriate use of antibiotic drugs, as well as mutations in pathogens

But the worst is yet to come as new and reemerging infectious diseases pose a even greater threat to global health and security over the next 20 years endangering citizens and threatening armed troops deployed overseas, argues Dr Narender K. Gupta, a reputed Nri doctor and a board certified Fellow with the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, Clinical Assistant Professor at the medical College of Ohio, Usa and President society for Medicare, a Delhi based Ngo in the field of medical education, awareness and capacity building to save human lives. Dr Gupta was recently elected as one of one hundred physicians in Usa to join the Vascular Biology Group at the University of Florida to explore the multiple effects of hypertension, high cholesterol and renal dialysis on the blood vessels of the body.

Drugs For Hiv

According to Dr Gupta despite the fact that India has one of the world's top numbers of citizen , over 5.7 million Hiv-positive people, suffering from Hiv/Aids patients, sex education remains a taboo in most parts of the country

According to Dr Gupta, the only retort breaking this vicious cycle lies in starting a heavy nation-wide 'Quit India Movement to banish Hiv and other associated infections' like the mass movement started by Mahatma Gandhi to liberate the country from the British.

At least six Indian states-- Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka have banned sex education or refused to contain it in their curriculum on the pretext that it encourages permissiveness among young citizen and is hence has no place in Indian culture. All this is bound to have serious consequences as India already has 165,000 reported Aids cases of which colse to 50,000 are in the age group of 15-29 years.

Another alarming trend observed by a recent eye is that one in four Indian females aged between 18 - 30 years have caress sex before marriage. The eye across 11 major cities of the country complete that over 40 percent of Indian women have not even heard of Aids, creating a dangerous composition of lack of knowledge and greater sexual activity.

According to Dr Gupta end the eyes to the question and banning sex education from the school curriculum on the grounds that it offends Indian sensibilities is absolutely not the best way to solving the question as this indirectly puts young lives at risk and jeopardises the fight against Aids.

'Its a deadly game which the killer twins Hiv and Hcv want us to lose but the real issue is can India be left at the mercy of Hiv/Aids' he says

Outlining five major dangers due to this kind of short sighted approach, he says. The prominent danger is 550,000 Hiv patients in India already have Aids and another 300,000/ year will compose Aids over the next 15-20 years. Apart from this with 600 new Hiv infections in India every hour- close to 21,000 children are getting newly infected and 30,000 Hiv%2Bve babies are being born every year. Thirdly according to World Bank estimates India already has 2 million children,  the largest number Aids orphans in the world who are unbelievable to duplicate in next five years.

Yet another danger worth mentioning is that deaths from Hcv known as 'silent killer' are unbelievable to triple in the next 10-20 years and surpass that of Aids. More than a million such deaths by 2020.

Finally 18 million Indians, many of whom do not know they are infected with Hcv - quarter of them may compose persisting liver disease in the next 10 to 15 years

'The only way India can fight and win this battle is through a composition of awareness and early detection of the diseases so that the inherent spreaders of the disease could be identified and isolated before any added damage gets done. Also early Hiv therapy improves the chances of survival of those already infected by the disease. The benefits of taking medications early contain arresting of damage to the immune theory without any toxic side-effects of the drugs' says Dr Gupta

Confirming this hypothesis, in a recent article published in the medical journal Lancet -- British researchers have complete that delays or waiting to start anti retro viral therapy leads to a 28 per cent higher rate of Aids and deaths, compared with an earlier start to therapy

Earlier is better when it comes to starting medicine for Hiv, the article adds.

Before arrival up with this prognosis Jonathan Sterne of the University of Bristol and his colleagues analyzed levels of Cd4 immune cells, an indicator of Hiv damage, among more 45, 000 citizen with Hiv in North America and Europe. 'It is prominent that citizen at inherent risk of having Hiv get tested normally so that if found to be infected they can receive the principal care and treatment' , the article conclude

According to yet another medical finding, early and timely medicine is the key to salvage the lives of infants infected with Hiv. In a article published in New England Journal of Medicine, researchers in South Africa who studied 377 babies complete that giving newborns drug therapy right away instead of delaying it until symptoms emerge reduced early baby mortality by 76 per cent and Hiv progression by 75 per cent

Treating babies infected with Hiv rapidly with drug treatments dramatically reduces their risk of death - the study concluded.

All this prompted officials in U.S., Europe and World health club to recommend immediate medicine of children under one year of age with anti retro viral therapy or Art after the prognosis instead of waiting until signs of illness appeared.

Dr. Avy Violari of the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, who led the study has been quoted as saying that  'Hiv attacked the developing immune theory very quickly. The decline was so rapid, short of finding the babies every day, you won't be able to pick up any meaningful changes that would prompt a doctor to start treatment.'

According to the study delays in starting the medicine was the cause of more than one-third of the 'unexpected and rapid' deaths recorded at home, with subtle or no early warning symptoms for the parents. In 10 out of 12 cases the cause of death could not even be determined. 

See Also : hiv antiretroviral drugs