What symptoms could be due to life-threatening acute drug reactions?
Symptoms of life-threatening acute drug reactions are not to be missed. A patient with myalgias, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever, rash, malaise, and extreme fatigue who has started taking abacavir (ABC) within the previous 6 weeks is probably suffering from an abacavir hypersensitivity reaction. In this case, abacavir should be permanently discontinued. The hypersensitivity reaction occurs in up to 5% of patients starting on abacavir and can lead to hypotension and death if the patient is rechallenged with abacavir. If a patient taking one of the “d-drugs” (didanosine [ddI], zalcitabine [ddC], stavudine [d4T], dapsone [for Pneumocystis pneumonia prophylaxis]) has rapid onset of nausea/vomiting and constant, severe abdominal pain in the epigastrium or upper quadrants that radiates to the back, drug-induced pancreatitis is possible. Patients taking a nucleoside (NRTI) who have vague symptoms including nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, weight loss, malaise, fatigue, dysp
