Question
Is ART treatment for a lifetime?
21 July 2021. Related: All topics, Cure, Life expectancy, Living with HIV long-term.
Is ART treatment for a lifetime?
Answer
Hi there,
Good question that we get asked often.
One perspective – an important one – is that none of us know the future.
So at one stage HIV might be cured, and if this happens, HIV meds will not be for life.
Currently though, it is best to stay on HIV meds. This is so that HIV stays at really low levels in your body which protects your long term health.
Thinking about treatment for life though can be a bit daunting.
It is perhaps better to think about treatment as something you need to take really seriously for the next year or two, and then to see what happens in HIV research.
Some treatment in development might only involve an injection every six months. Science has the potential to surprise us all.
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