What Is Hivid Used For?
(This medication is no longer available. This medication was not discontinued for safety reasons. The manufacturer of Hivid chose to stop making it because current HIV treatment guidelines recommended using newer medications, rather than Hivid.)
Hivid
® (
zalcitabine) is a prescription medicine approved for the treatment of
AIDS and HIV infection. Hivid belongs to a group of medications known as nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (also known as NRTIs).
AIDS is short for "Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome." AIDS was first reported in the United States in 1981. Since then, it has become a significant, worldwide epidemic. AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Initially, an HIV infection does not usually cause any obvious symptoms
(see HIV Symptoms). However, by killing or damaging cells of the body's immune system, HIV will eventually begin to progressively destroy the body's ability to fight infections and certain cancers
(see AIDS Symptoms).
HIV is often spread through sexual contact with an infected partner. HIV transmission also happens through contact with infected blood, which frequently occurs among IV drug users (who share needles or syringes contaminated with blood from someone infected with the virus). Women with HIV can transmit the virus to their babies during pregnancy, birth, or breastfeeding.
Hivid is not a cure for HIV or AIDS. In fact, there is currently no known cure for HIV or AIDS. Also, Hivid is not intended to be used alone. Instead, it is used as part of an HIV "cocktail." These cocktails usually consist of three or four (or sometimes even five) different HIV medications (technically known as Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy, or HAART). Using a combination of medications helps to prevent the virus from becoming resistant to one or more of the drugs.
