Side effects. Common side effects that have been reported by some AZT users include headaches, nausea, vomiting, insomnia, tiredness, muscle pain, and loss of appetite. Many people find that side effects caused by anti-HIV drugs improve or go away after the first several weeks of treatment.
Zidovudine may cause blood and bone marrow problems. Symptoms of bone marrow problems include fever, chills, sore throat pale skin, or unusual tiredness or weakness. These problems may require blood transfusions or temporarily stopping treatment with zidovudine.
AZT also causes bone marrow suppression, which causes anemia. Bone marrow toxicity appears to be more common in those patients with advanced disease and related to dose and duration of the treatment. All of these conditions were generally found to be reversible upon reduction of AZT dosages.
AZT, in full azidothymidine, also called zidovudine, drug used to delay development of AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) in patients infected with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). AZT belongs to a group of drugs known as nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs).
The most common adverse reactions were nausea, jaundice/scleral icterus, and rash.
The commonest side effects experienced by people taking nevirapine are rash, nausea, fatigue, fever, headache, vomiting, diarrhoea and abdominal pain. People taking nevirapine may also develop a low level of granulocytes, a type of white blood cell.
Abstract. Objective: Zidovudine is a well known cause of macrocytosis. However, many HIV-infected patients develop macrocytosis even though they do not receive zidovudine. The aim of this case-control study was to evaluate other causes of high mean corpuscular volumes (MCV) in HIV infected patients.
AZT (zidovudine) In March of 1987, FDA approved zidovudine (AZT) as the first antiretroviral drug for the treatment of AIDS.
AZT, or azidothymidine, was originally developed in the 1960s by a U.S. researcher as way to thwart cancer; the compound was supposed to insert itself into the DNA of a cancer cell and mess with its ability to replicate and produce more tumor cells.
Diarrhea, headache, nausea, vomiting, stomach upset, drowsiness, dizziness, a bad taste in the mouth, and trouble sleeping may occur. If any of these effects persist or worsen, tell your doctor or pharmacist promptly.
1 AZT causes replication inhibition and SOS induction via accumulation of single-strand DNA gaps. If AZT causes DNA damage by inhibiting replication fork progression, replication should stop or slow when cultures are treated with AZT.
Mechanism of Action: Zidovudine is phosphorylated to zidovudine-triphosphate, which competes with endogenous nucleotides for incorporation into the viral DNA and once incorporated causes chain termination due to the lack of a 3' OH group.