TreatmentUpdate59; Vol 7, No. 5 - May 1995
Sean Hosein

Sulpha drugs are often the first therapies doctors consider when treating HIV-infected patients with the life-threatening lung infection PCP or the brain infection toxo (toxoplasmosis). Unfortunately many patients with HIV/AIDS tend to 'experience' serious side effects when given these drugs. Researchers are not sure why this happens. It may be that the way HIV-infected subjects 'process' drugs leads to the production of compounds that cause these side effects.

* ANTIOXIDANTS

In laboratory experiments with cells, treatment with antioxidants appears to reduce the production of toxic compounds from sulpha drugs. This may not be surprising because several research teams have reported that subjects with HIV/AIDS have less-than-normal levels of certain substances used by the body to make its detoxifying enzymes. Researchers and their patients are experimenting with a number of antioxidants that the body cannot make (vitamins C and E and beta carotene) and taking supplements of materials (sulphur-containing amino acids - cysteine, methionine, the minerals selenium, copper, manganese and zinc) needed to make the body's antioxidant enzymes. Some researchers are conducting experiments where at first subjects receive small doses of sulpha drugs which gradually increase to the full treatment dose--a process called desensitization.

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Copyright © 1995 - TreatmentUpdate. Reproduced with permission. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the Editor, The Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange, 555 Richmond St. West, Suite 505, Box 1104, Toronto, ON, M5V 3B1 • Phone: 416-203-7122 • Toll Free: 1-800-263-1638 • Fax: 416-203-8284  http://www.catie.ca