The expert panel that produces the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Guidelines for the Use of Antiretroviral Agents in HIV-1-Infected Adults and Adolescents has issued a communication indicating that abacavir (found in Ziagen, Epzicom and Trizivir) should remain a preferred drug for use in people who are starting HIV treatment for the first time.
Abacavir was moved from “alternative” to “preferred” when the guidelines were last updated in January 2008. Subsequently, a study was published showing an increased risk of heart attacks in people taking abacavir, and a group of patients in a second study were unblinded and told what medications they were taking, because of an increased number of treatment failures in a group of people taking abacavir who had viral loads over 100,000 before starting treatment.
In response to these two studies, the guidelines panel issued a statement that concluded, “At this point, the Panel concludes that the preliminary information available from these studies does not warrant a change in its current recommendations regarding the use of antiretroviral drugs in adults and adolescents. The Panel will continue to review additional data as they become available and will make further recommendations if needed. Meanwhile, the Panel recommends clinicians consider all available information so that the optimal therapeutic choice for each patient is based on individual patient characteristics and the potential risks and benefits of each treatment component.”
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Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
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Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I recently met a guy who is negative. I did tell him about my status and he decided to kiss me anyway (we didn't go further than that). But a day later, he called and said that he actually had a mouth ulcer that time when we kissed and he was very worried. Asked if he can get the virus from me that way. For that moment, I felt so insulted and yet I felt so bad. It was my first time having a contact with a "negative" guy."
