Combination antiretroviral therapy uses several drugs at the same time because

  • A. single drugs are too expensive to manufacture
  • B. the drugs increase each other's side effects
  • C. HIV develops resistance rapidly to any single drug
  • D. they kill the virus directly by oxidation

Explanation

HIV mutates so fast that a population resistant to one drug soon appears, but becoming resistant to three at once is far harder. That is why cocktail therapy suppresses the virus for years even though it cannot eliminate the provirus.

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