Antiretroviral therapy and resistance to antiretroviral drugs

Slightly more than a decade after the discovery of HIV as the causative agent of AIDS, effective therapies against this virus have become available. Because of a large degree of cross-resistance among antiretroviral agents in the same class (nRTIs, NNRTIs, or PIs), once a therapy has failed virologically, future therapeutic options with currently available drugs are limited, however. Poor tolerability and toxicity may also compromise the long-term prospects of antiretroviral therapy. Nevertheless, benefits of antiretroviral therapy far outweigh the downsides and efforts to scale up responsible use of antiretroviral agents in developing countries are a priority in the fight against HIV/AIDS. This paper presents an overview of antiretroviral therapy and resistance to antiretroviral drugs.