Dear Doctors. I just asked the question about combo thearpy (combivir) Then I went on to read in a hiv magazine that combivir alone is no longer a treatment protocol. Is that true.

Combivir is two antivirals in one tablet: azt and 3tc. There are both "nucleoside" type antivirals - and what has been noted for a few years now is while these two together work well - if they are the only two meds used, then within 2-4 weeks you are almost always going to get resistance to the 3TC. And once resistance happens, the benefit from the medication appears to decrease - meaning it doesn't work as powerfully, and won't work for nearly as long a time as compared to when HIV is sensitive to the meds.

The best way we know so far to keep HIV sensitive to the meds is to get the viral load to such low numbers that it virtually stops growing - or grows at a very low level but cannot create resistant strains. And Combivir alone almost never does this -- it might for some who start with a very low viral load before the meds, but overall - less than 5% would expect to stay low on just these two meds. So these two antivirals - whether taken separately as AZT and 3TC, or in one tablet as Combivir - need to be combined with a third medication in order to get more prolonged benefit.

hope that clarifies. CC