Are the drugs a cure?

The current drugs are a treatment, but they are not a cure. They stop the progression of HIV. They let your immune system start to repair itself and your CD4 count increase. But you will still be HIV-positive.

Even people who take meds for many years, with undetectable viral load, still have very small amounts of HIV. This HIV is mainly in cells that are inactive. Most of your immune cells are resting or sleeping – like books in a library. They only become active in response to an infection – like someone taking a book off the shelves. HIV meds only work on cells that are active and awake.

These sleeping cells are one of the reasons that it is difficult to find a cure for HIV. Some of these cells can sleep for 50 years, but they can also wake up at any time. This is why you need to continue taking treatment.

Exciting research is trying to cure HIV but this is still likely to be many years away.

This is still a good goal though. Whether from treatment or a cure you could still die of old age rather than from HIV.