Abstract:
HIV/AIDS is one of the worst pandemics the world has ever witnessed. With 2 million deaths occurring
every year, the battle with HIV is far from over. Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy (HAART) is
highly effective, with current regimens largely addressing the problems associated with toxicity and side
effects. HAART, however, is not accessible to all the populations in the world due to high costs as well as
availability. In addition, HAART is not effective in all the patients, in terms of virologic control, immune
reconstitution and reduction of immune activation. Owing to this failure of HAART, mortality incidence
in HIV infection is still higher as compared to that of the general population. Incidence of non-AIDS
related complications such as cardio-vascular disease and liver dysfunction are on the increase, despite
successful HAART. What is currently needed is a selective immunomodulator that can function in
conjunction with HAART and suppress post-HAART residual immune activation.
Traditional herbal medicines are an attractive source of such immunomodulators. Alternative medicines
have been widely used by HIV-infected people. However, their safety and efficacy against HIV/AIDS has
not been studied in a systematic manner. Several studies suffer from methodological and reporting
limitations and there is no conclusive evidence as of date, that alternative medicines possess a beneficial
effect against HIV/AIDS.
