In 1964, Jerome Phillip Horwitz, a scientist who was conducting research for the Karmanos Institute discovered and developed a drug known as Zidovudine. Horwitz was initially trying to discover a new treatment for cancer by synthesizing chemical compounds, but he thought he had failed in finding one. A few decades later, Zidovudine became a treatment for the unnamed disease known as HIV. Zidovudine was also the first drug synthesized to treat HIV. The compounds Horwitz synthesized were Stavudine and Zalcitabine, which became known as Zidovudine, a drug that is currently used for treating and controlling HIV infections in patients.
Zidovudine is approved by the FDA in 1987 to treat HIV in adults and children 4 weeks of age and older. This
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If the HIV enzyme is not blocked then, reverse transcriptase can convert its RNA into DNA making it harder for the body to fight off infections. HIV attacks the immune system cell in the body known as CD4 helper lymphocyte cells, and in order to infect the CD4 cells, HIV must convert its RNA into DNA.
Patients taking this drug might encounter side effects such as loss of appetite, cough, diarrhea, headache, constipation, change in body fat distribution, fatigue, nausea, skin rashes, and vomiting. Some of the life threatening symptoms include liver problems, severe anemia, muscle disease, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and decreased white blood cells.
Zidovudine was licensed in March 1987, and the trials showed that the drug is very effective in reducing HIV infections, and increasing the CD4 immune system cell count in HIV patients. This drug was compared to a placebo for over 24 weeks a randomized trial. When lowering the dosage from 1200mg per day to 600mg per day, it yields a stunning result of similar anti-HIV effects but with less toxicity. Overall, Zidovudine does not cure HIV, but it can prevent HIV from progressing in the short-term, and delay death in
was approved in 1982 and in another form, that is to be taken orally rather than
Everyday researchers have proposed new methods of how to control the HIV virus from turning into AIDS. A combination of effective HIV medicines help stop the formation of new copies of HIV as it reproduces in your body. This technique helps to keep your CD-4 cell count up and your viral load down. CD-4 cells are one type of immune cells that assist to fight off the virus, the higher your count the stronger your immune system (Nakashima 77). Whereas, your viral load is a measure of HIV in your blood and your treatment goal is to have the lowest viral load possible. People with higher viral loads tend to progress to AIDS and become sick sooner than those with lower viral loads (Nakashima 80). Successful HIV medications can prevent other infections common with AIDS and can help you live longer.
The medication given to the children is a trial and error situation. The right drug could take years to find. The children taking this drug feel like test subjects when their pediatrician/psychotherapists must monitor them for compliance to the medication. Side effects differ from each individual, ranging from nervous breakdowns, inadequacy, mania, delusions, physical harm, self harm and possible attempted suicide. These symptoms can be treated with even more medication. Other side effects include: headache, stomach ache, dry mouth, constipation, gas, weight loss/gain, and acne. These symptoms might go away or are tolerable. New symptoms are hard to determine whether or not they are due from a new illness, the drugs, or just natural hormone development.
In the early 1980s deaths by opportunistic infections, previously observed mainly in organ transplant recipients receiving therapy to suppress their immune responses, were recognized in otherwise healthy homosexual men. In 1983 French cancer specialist Luc Montagnier and scientists at the Pasteur Institute in Paris isolated what appeared to be a new human retrovirus—a special type of virus that reproduces differently from other viruses—from the lymph node of a man at risk for AIDS (see Lymphatic System). Nearly simultaneously, scientists working in the laboratory of American research scientist Robert Gallo at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, and a group headed by American virologist Jay Levy at the University of California at San Francisco isolated a retrovirus from people with AIDS and from individuals having contact with people with AIDS. All three groups of scientists isolated what is now known as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS.
The treatment will not cure the virus; however it makes life more livable. People that receive treatment and stay on their treatment plan could possibly live as long as someone who does not have HIV
Most side effects go away after a while, but not always. Some common side effects are nausea, loss of appetite, headaches, dry mouth, dizziness, moodiness, trouble sleeping, and tics. If you change the times of when you take your medicine or what you eat with it then that can cause more side effects. The medication should be taken with food and you should eat throughout the day and drink plenty of fluids. Depending upon your side effects and the results from your medication, the doctor might change
Less common side effects reported included abnormal taste, bleeding problems, chills, ear pain, fever, frequent urination, high blood pressure, loss of memory, palpitations, and ringing in the ear. The most common side effects reported in controlled study of patients receiving Prozac, and those receiving a placebo, patients receiving Prozac more frequently reported experiencing anxiety, dizziness, lightheadedness, nervousness, insomnia, drowsiness, fatigue, tremors, nausea, diarrhea, dry mouth, abnormal vision, decrease in libido, rash, sweating, and abnormal ejaculation (American Hospital Formulatory Services, AHFS, 2002). Of these patients, fifteen percent had to discontinue use of Prozac.
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retro virus that causes AIDS. HIV is a virus that can only be contracted between human to human. HIV weakens your immune system because this virus is destroying cells that fight diseases and infection in your body. A virus can only produce itself by taking over a cell in the body of its h...
Some of the known side effects of GHB involve intoxication, talking, increased energy, happiness, desire to socialize, sensuality, possible nausea, enhanced sexual experience, feeling playful or affectionate, loss of gag reflex, loss of coordination due to loss of muscle tone, mild disinhibition, or the feeling of freedom; exposure, delusions, depression, dizziness, hallucinations, seizures, low blood pressure, slowed heart rate, or difficulty concentrating. Some of the more serious effects include amnesia, vomiting, respiratory problems, loss of conscienceness, being conscience but unable to move, rambling incoherent speech, sedation, disinhibition, giddiness, silliness, desire to sleep, passing out, and death, especially when GHB is mixed with alcohol or other drugs!
The only frequently occurring side effect was constipation, which occurred in 9% on ondansetron and 2% on placebo. Other less frequent side effects which included headache, rectal bleeding, backache and abdominal pain, were almost the same between the two groups.
The drug azidothymidine has proved very useful in the war. against the AIDS epidemic. Scientists all over the globe are currently working on a cure for AIDS and perhaps one day they will succeed. All these symptoms, causes, and treatments describe the deadly AIDS. virus.
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) first came to light in 1981. There has been a long and arduous global effort on the prevention of HIV/AIDS. HIV is a virus that is spread through body fluids that affect the specific T-cells of the immune system. Without treatment HIV infection leads to AIDS and there is no cure for AIDS. HIV infection can be controlled and the importance of primary pre...
no cure for HIV/AIDS there is and was medication that could have been distributed in South Africa.
Laurent Mandelbrot et al., Lamivudine-Zidovudine Combination for Prevention of Maternal-Infant Transmission of HIV-1, 285 JAMA, 2083, 2083-2093 (2001).
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a fatal physical condition that is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The virus damages the human body’s immune system, so that the body cannot protect itself from bacteria, viruses, and prions that cause diseases. With severely lowered defenses, AIDS patients die from common illnesses such as pneumonia, diarrhea, cold, and tuberculosis. The HIV virus does not directly attack its victim; the disease that patients suffer from after receiving the virus is what hurts and kills them.