Assignment -

After reading Chapters 4 and 5 you are now aware of how the HIV virus replicates in its host cell, the different strategies for treatment of HIV-infection that are being developed, and some of the practical limitations of the available treatments. For this discussion, everyone should choose one of these topics and develop it further. You can propose your own topic, or use one of these examples:

1. Advantages and disadvantages of reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitors - nucleoside inhibitors vs non-nucleoside inhibitors - what happens if resistance develops?

2. Advantages and disadvantages of protease inhibitors - how do they work? Does resistance develop?

3. Choose one of the following new classes drugs under development: Integrase Inhibitors, Fusion Inhibitors and CCR5 antagonists. The book doesn't go into much detail about them, but chances are, in the 3 years since the book was published, there might have been some promising new developments. Do some research and find more information about one new drug on the horizon, how it would work, how far along in the testing it is, etc. Have there been any side effects or other problems associated with it, etc.?

4. Choose one of the limitations and uncertainties of ART therapies as outlined in the textbook on p.95-97. Do some more research on one of these points, and tell us more about it.

5. Discuss the topic of "Timing of Initiation of the antiretroviral therapy". See what you can find out about current lines of thought regarding the timing of beginning the ART? What factors need to be considered? What are the exceptions?

Attachment:- Assignment Files.rar