Abstract
The research objective was to study the effectiveness of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs
and the effective technique in taking care of HIV-infected and AIDS patients. The research
sample comprised 50 HIV-infected and AIDS patients taking ARV drugs. The
scope of the study included their sex, age, occupation, and time period before starting to
take ARV, history of ARV drug usage, CD4 levels before and after treatment, drug side
effects, prevalence of opportunistic infections, causes of changing drug formula, and
mortality rate; all data were analyzed by descriptive statistics. The result of the research
showed no difference among male and female subjects, whose age ranged from 30 to 39
years. Previous occupations were employees and industrial workers. The CD4 response
study disclosed that the group of subjects who had CD4 levels of 0-100 cells/mm3 had changed little from previous levels after the patients had taken drugs until the end of 24
months, with the highest CD4 level average being 68 cells/mm3. The second group had
CD4 levels of 101-200 cells/mm3; the CD4 level average increased until the patients had
taken drugs at the end of 24 months with the average being 173 cells/mm3. The third
group had CD4 levels of >200 cells/mm3; the CD4 level continued to increase when the
patients had taken drugs at the end of 24 months, with the highest average being 447.55
cells/mm3. The study about their weight found that it clearly changed and that about
opportunistic infections found that the most frequent were cryptococcosis (8%) and PCP
(6%). The change in drug formula was because of drug side effects. The study about
adverse drug reaction found that the most frequent were rash (8%) and hepatitis (6%).
