Weak HAART: A combo of 3TC (Epivir) + abacavir (Ziagen) + tenofovir (Viread) seems too weak to fight HIV, warns Epivir and Ziagen-maker GlaxoSmithKline. Are you on this cocktail? Ask Doc about adding a fourth drug or switching your mix.

Interact: Does your combo combine Viread with new one-a-day, lipid-friendly PI atazanavir (Reyataz) (see “New Meds on the Shelf,” POZ, October 2003)? Beware: Viread undercuts Reyataz’s ability to suppress HIV. Bristol-Myers Squibb, maker of Reyataz, says to add a 100-mg ritonavir (Norvir) booster. But will that bust the benefit of Reyataz by boosting lipids, too? Stay tuned.

Toxic TB tx: Lots of HIVers have latent TB infection (positive skin test but no illness)—and eradicating it reduces future risk of active TB. But the CDC now warns that one standard treatment, two months of pyrazinamide and rifampin, is too liver-toxic. So TB-positive HIVers are left with only one choice: nine months of slightly lighter-on-the-liver isoniazid (INH).