By regularly following the specific treatment, it is now possible to stabilize the disease, but not to cure it definitively. New drug combinations (available since 1996 in Italy) are highly effective, and involve the combined use of three antiretroviral drugs. This approach has revolutionized the treatment of AIDS, and currently, thanks to combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), approximately 80% of patients achieve long-term control of viral replication, with reduced mortality and morbidity for HIV. The goal of antiretroviral therapy is to inhibit replication of the virus to a point where plasma levels are unrecognizable for as long as possible, potentially for life. Therapy does not heal the infection, but it reduces the amount of the virus circulating in the blood. Although the amount of virus circulating is greatly reduced, it remains in the body and the person will always be seropositive and infectious to others. The progression of the disease, however, is noticeably slowed down, allowing the person to live a lot longer.
