HIV: Reta final de uma epidemia

#SEE #HIV #AIDS In the 1980s, AIDS was still an unknown disease that was beginning to cause deaths, spreading fear and prejudice. Until medicine began to collect its first victories, the epidemic took a heavy toll. Almost four decades after the first reports, AIDS still represents a major problem, but on a much smaller scale. The gloomy projections of the 1980s have given way to a time when experts, with due caution, speak for the first time of victory in controlling the epidemic. From a fatal disease, AIDS has become a treatable chronic disease. Not only have better weapons emerged in recent times to combat the spread of the virus in the body. For the first time in history, a highly effective strategy for preventing the disease is available. Called PrEP, pre-exposure prophylaxis, the goal of which is to prevent HIV infection through the daily intake of a medication that is a combination of the antiretrovirals tenofovir and emtricitabine. It blocks the entry of the HIV virus into the DNA of the body's defense cells, preventing its replication. If used regularly, without interruptions, it reduces the risk of infection by 90%. The important achievements in the battle against the epidemic do not represent a green light for people to neglect prevention. The definitive victory against the disease that terrified the world in the 1980s and killed many people over the following decades still depends largely on the responsible behavior of the population.