JLE

Virologie

MENU

1987-1997 : dix années de chimiothérapie antirétrovirale Volume 1, issue 3, Mai - Juin 1997

Figures

See all figures

Author
Laboratoire de bactériologie-virologie-hygiène, CHRU Robert-Debré, avenue du Général-Koenig, 51092 Reims Cedex

In 1987, the efficacy of azidothymidine (ZDV) in the treatment of patients with AIDS or mild AIDS-related complex, was reported. Ten years later, our understanding of the disease has progressed and the clinical data reported recently, prolonged survival and frequency of opportunistic infections reduced, have provided the most dramatic and encouraging advances in anti-human immunodeficiency virus therapy. New antiretroviral drugs, especially protease inhibitors, new therapeutic strategies, bi- and tritherapy, associated with a new surrogate marker (quantification of HIV-1 RNA in plasma) predicting outcome after seroconversion and the risk of progression of AIDS, spark optimism among infected patients and AIDS researchers. However, all these data do not mean that a virological cure of HIV-1 infection will soon be possible, and we must be still vigilant to prevent the transmission of this viral disease.