Sulfamethoxazole Health Dictionary

An antibacterial drug containing trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole. Because of potentially seriously side effects, co-trimoxazole is now used to treat certain infections only when they cannot be treated with other drugs.... co-trimoxazole

A very rare metal that, in its radioactive form, is sometimes used in cancer therapy and to treat joints affected by arthritis.zidovudine An antiretroviral drug, formerly known as azidothymidine or AZT, that is used in combination with other antiretroviral drugs to slow the progression of AIDS. The principal aim of antiretrovirals is to keep viral replication to as low a level as possible for as long as possible; they do not constitute a cure. Zidovudine was the first drug to be introduced to combat HIV infection.

Possible side effects of zidovudine include anaemia, which may be severe enough to require a blood transfusion, nausea, loss of appetite, and headache.

Zidovudine also impairs the absorption of trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole, the antibiotic drugs used to treat pneumonia in people who have , thus reducing the effectiveness of these drugs.... yttrium

(sulpha drug) n. one of a group of drugs, derived from sulphanilamide (a red dye), that prevent the growth of bacteria (i.e. they are bacteriostatic). Sulphonamides are effective against a variety of infections and were formerly widely used; because many of them are rapidly excreted and very soluble in the urine, they were particularly useful in treating infections of the urinary tract.

A variety of side-effects may occur with sulphonamide treatment, including nausea, vomiting, headache, and loss of appetite; more severe effects include *cyanosis, blood disorders, skin rashes, and fever. Because of increasing bacterial resistance to sulphonamides, and with the development of more effective less toxic antibiotics, the clinical use of these drugs has declined. Those still used include *sulfadiazine, *sulfasalazine, and sulfamethoxazole (combined with trimethoprim in *co-trimoxazole).... sulphonamide

n. an antibacterial drug that is active against a range of microorganisms; it is used mainly in the treatment of chronic urinary-tract infections and respiratory-tract infections. Long-term treatment may cause anaemia due to deficiency of folate, with which the drug interacts (see dihydrofolate reductase inhibitor). Trimethoprim is also administered in a combined preparation with sulfamethoxazole (see co-trimoxazole) but is now more usually prescribed alone, because of the severity of the side-effects of co-trimoxazole.... trimethoprim