A treatment for the persons infected with viruses such as HIV. The method takes advantage of the anesthetic membrane effect brought about by certain gases under pressure. A patient infected with HIV, for example, is placed in a pressurized chamber and exposed to one or more gases under pressure in this environment, molecules or compounds bind to specific attachment sites on surfaces of host cells and on the virus. These attachment sites are the same sites that are required by the virus to attach to host cells during the virus's replication process. The result is that viruses are prevented from replicating. In the case of HIV, without replication, the virus is also prevented from mutating. This deleterious effect on the virus allows the body's immune system to reconstitute itself in numbers sufficient to cause clinical remission. The present method generally comprises the steps of selecting the gases, pressures and duration to be used inside a pressurized chamber, and exposing the patient to the selected conditions.