Drug Combination Linked With Muscle Damage

A case study in the November 4 edition of the journal AIDS links the combined use of Ziagen and the lipid-lowering drug Modalim with severe muscle damage. A 48-year-old HIV-positive French man who had been taking the lipid medication for nearly three years began an antiretroviral regimen containing Ziagen, AZT, and 3TC dosed in the combination pill Trizivir. Within eight days he developed a severe reaction to the Ziagen component of his cocktail, including skin rash, fever, kidney failure, liver damage, and severe muscle damage. The fever and skin rash resolved quickly after medication was stopped, and the kidney damage improved over the next 45 days, but muscle-damage markers actually increased for several days after the drugs were halted.