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HAART regimen
Dec 27, 2007
Dear Dr Eric,
In April 2004 I was diagnosed HIV positive with CD4 count of 43 and continued with out treatment and then in 2007 I was diagnosed with extrapulmonary TB and with CD4 count of 24 hospitalized for long and after I took anti TB for two months, I started HAART. I am taking Lamividune and zidovudine as one tablet twice a day (in 12 hrs), and efavirenz one tablet per 24 hrs. Now I am healthy and my CD4 is improving (75 before 3 months). Am I on the right truck? I am living in east Africa and there is no as such any sophisticated test to check every thing properly? I appreciate your advise. Thank you in advance!
Enyew
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Response from Dr. Daar
Hi Enyew,
Thank you for your posting.
Certainly the regimen you are taking should have a good chance of suppressing your virus to undetectable levels. If viral load testing is available it obviously would be very helpful to assure that this goal is obtained. The big issue for someone like you is the drug-drug interactions between rifampin and HIV medications. Assuming you are taking rifampin, it should be okay with your current regimen. In fact, unlike protease inhibitors, efavirenz is a medication that can be used with rifampin. There is a mild interaction, and although data is limited some would recommend that those weighing more than 50 Kg consider increasing the dose of efavirenz from the usual 600 mg once daily to 800 mg once daily. I would encourage you to discuss this with your provider since there is no definitive answer.
All the best,
Eric
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