antibioticsbooks

224 PART 5 Antiviral Drugs
What They’re Good For
NRTIs are used as components of a combination
antiretroviral regimen for HIV. For treatmentnaïve
patients, two NRTIs are typically combined
with a drug from another class. For treatmentexperienced
patients, three or more NRTIs may
be part of a salvage regimen. As noted, certain
NRTIs are also used to manage HBV infections.
Use of these drugs in management of HIV/HBV
co-infected patients requires accounting for the
overlap in activity between the viruses to ensure
that resistance doesn’t emerge because of suboptimal
activity against one of the viruses.
Don’t Forget!
If there aren’t two NRTIs (taking into account combination
preparations as well) as part of a patient’s
anti-HIV regimen, something is weird. The patient
may be on an unusual salvage regimen (hopefully
under the care of an HIV expert), but it’s best to
check to make sure something didn’t get left out.