Medications -- along with inexpensive and easily accessible HIV/AIDS tests -- have provided patients with hope of longer life spans.

Treatments
Currently there is no cure for HIV/AIDS, but researchers have made gains in antiretroviral drugs that slow the reproduction of HIV in the body.

However, the HIV virus adapts to an antiretroviral drug if it is used exclusively. Most doctors prescribe highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), which uses a combination of antiretroviral drugs that are then switched periodically so the virus doesn’t quickly build immunity to them.

Doctors also use post-exposure preventive treatment, which utilizes medication, laboratory tests and counseling, to prevent HIV infection in people who have been exposed to HIV. Although the treatment has never been proven to prevent HIV infection, when used within hours of possible infection it is believed to help prevent actual infection.

A healthy lifestyle also can contribute to the lifespan of those infected. People who are infected should eat healthful foods and exercise regularly to equip the body to fight infections that occur because of a weakened immune system.

In the past, people in poor countries did not have access to these treatments. Fortunately, that has at least somewhat changed through the hard work of various organizations and people.

Detection
Medication is only one part of the puzzle in stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS. Because people sometimes do not show symptoms of HIV for years after initial infection, many people infected with HIV don’t even know it.

Typically, HIV antibodies do not show up in the bloodstream for three or more weeks after initial infection. It is recommended that people who think they may be infected wait three months before being tested because before then, tests run a higher chance of returning negative, even though the person is infected.

Various myths abound about HIV infection. UNAIDS, a joint United Nations program on HIV/AIDS, states that HIV is not spread through everyday contact. Rather, HIV most commonly spreads through unprotected sex, shared needles or blood transfusions from someone who is infected. People do not contract HIV from mosquitoes.

The only way to know if a person has HIV/AIDS is through blood tests.