Say No to AIDS
HOW DOES
ART WORK?


ART stands for Antiretroviral Therapy. You can also think of it as your Able and Ready Team.

ART is a pretty popular term, and it’s pretty normal to not know what it does. Let’s begin to explore.

BACKGROUND

WHAT DOES ART DO?

Well, let’s go back to how the virus affects the CD4 or T cells. The HIV cells sneak around in the bloodstream, attack these CD4 cells and attempt to take over. However, they must go through several steps before they completely take over and are able to make copies of themselves.

Here is where your ART starts working for you. Remember that this is an Able and Ready Team. The components in your medication fight the virus inside the CD4 cells to stop them before they can completely take over. The medication also strengthens the cells so that they can better defend themselves against any other HIV cells. As this happens throughout your body, your viral load gets lower and your CD4 count gets higher, because your medication is working to kill the virus and make your body better able to fight it.