Comprehensive Nursing Pharmacology Q 205
Which of the following statements is true about monotherapy for treatment of HIV disease?
A. It is the only FDA-approved treatment for HIV disease.
B. It is able to effectively destroy all viral particles of HIV.
C. It interferes with the replication of HIV virus without causing any side effects.
D. It appears to cause rapid resistance.
Correct Answer: D. It appears to cause rapid resistance.
With monotherapy, resistance can emerge within a few months. Antiretrovirals are drugs used to treat HIV infections/AIDS, and they are used in various combinations, commonly referred to as highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). The antiretrovirals agent include nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), NRTI fixed-dose combinations, integrase inhibitors, non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs), protease inhibitors, and CCR5 inhibitors.
Option A: HIV antiretroviral therapy should always be done with combination regimens. Initial treatment usually consists of two NRTIs (usually abacavir/lamivudine or tenofovir/emtricitabine) in combination with a third antiviral drug from one of the following classes: integrase inhibitor, NNRTI or protease inhibitor plus an enhancer (cobicistat or ritonavir).
Option B: All patients with HIV, regardless of what level of CD4, should be started on HAART, which is a treatment for life. This therapy has been shown to reduce morbidity and mortality and lower the risk of transmitting the infection to others, as long as they have a low or undetectable viral load.
Option C: Based on recent multicenter-multinational randomized controlled trials the latest guidelines indicate that HIV antiretroviral therapy should be initiated early in the disease process regardless of CD4 cell count in all adult and adolescent patients. This strategy has been shown to decrease morbidity and mortality related to HIV infection as well as HIV transmission.