Viread Information:

Viread is always used in combination with other anti-HIV medicines to treat patients with HIV infection. Viread is for adults age 18 and older.

Viread helps to block HIV reverse transcriptase, a chemical that is needed for HIV to multiply. Viread lowers the HIV viral load, the amount of HIV in the blood. Lowering the amount of HIV in the blood lowers the chance of death or infections that can occur when your immune system is weak (opportunistic infections).

Viread Side Effects:

Medicines and their possible side effects can affect individual people in different ways. The following are some of the side effects that are known to be associated with this medicine: Low blood phosphate level (hypophosphataemia), dizziness, nausea and vomiting, excess gas in the stomach and intestines (flatulence), rash, inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis), difficulty in breathing (dyspnoea), weakness or loss of strength (asthenia), elevated levels of lactic acid in the blood (lactic acidosis), decreased kidney function, and kidney failure

Viread Directions:

This medicine should be taken with or after food, as food increases the absorption of the medicine into the body.

Viread Precautions:

The HIV virus is very good at becoming resistant to anti-HIV medicines. For this reason it is very important that you carefully follow your doctor's instructions for taking your anti-HIV medicines, in order to maintain effective levels of the medicines in your blood. If the blood levels drop, the virus will be given more chance to replicate and develop resistance to the drugs. Skipping even a few doses increases the risk of treatment failure, so you should try to ensure that you take all your doses at the correct time, and that you visit your doctor for repeat prescriptions before you run out.

Treatment of HIV infection with anti-HIV medicines such as this one does not reduce the risk of transmitting the virus to other people through sexual contact or blood contamination. You should continue to use condoms to prevent transmitting the virus to your sexual partner.