We would hope that our HIV-poz readers are in close communication with their docs, but a notice from the drug maker Glaxo-Wellcome deserves to be passed on regarding Ziagen (abacavir), a year-old NRTI (a “nuke”) used in HIV treatment. Glaxo is advising doctors and their patients taking Ziagen that coughing and sore throat may be indications of a hypersensitive reaction to the drug which could be fatal.
Patients on Ziagen should have received information from their physicians about the drug’s hypersensitivity problems, which affect perhaps 5% of patients. The reaction symptoms long-identified include fever, rash, gastrointestinal symptoms (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or abdominal pain), fatigue, and shortness of breath; now add cough and sore throat.
The problem, of course, is that these could be symptoms of many things, HIV-related or not, so a careful evaluation by the physician is absolutely imperative. Stopping the Ziagen needlessly may cost a therapy option; on the other hand, failure to address an adverse reaction could be fatal. Patients using Ziagen and experiencing any of these listed symptoms should contact their physician immediately. As for the rest of us … The public’s perception today is that it’s no big deal anymore to have HIV, that just taking a few pills is all that is required. Nothing could be further from the truth, as this development indicates. Having HIV may not be as fatal as fast as before, but it’s still a pain in the ass to have – expensive, limiting, tedious, draining; in short, a real bore. Please make your choices carefully: Even with the present treatments – and sometimes because of the treatments – HIV is definitely no fun.
For details, go to http://www.glaxowellcome.com/pi/ziagen.pdf.
This article appears in March 3 • 2000.