Antiretroviral therapy (ART) is treatment using a combination of medicines that suppress HIV replication and reduce the amount of virus in the body.
ART usually consists of multiple antiretroviral medicines that act at different stages of the HIV life cycle. By suppressing viral replication, treatment helps preserve or restore immune function and greatly reduces the risk of HIV-related illness and progression to AIDS.
ART does not currently eliminate HIV from the body, so treatment is generally taken continuously. When treatment suppresses HIV to an undetectable viral load, a person does not transmit HIV sexually (U=U, undetectable = untransmittable).
QUICK FACT
ART does not “cure” HIV, but it can suppress the virus so effectively that it becomes undetectable in the blood and allows the immune system to remain healthy.
COMMONLY CONFUSED WITH
Antiretroviral drug: An antiretroviral drug is an individual medicine that acts against HIV; ART is the overall treatment regimen, usually involving a combination of antiretroviral medicines.
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