Drugs that have allowed many seriously ill AIDS patients to resume an active
life can raise their blood cholesterol to dangerous levels. Keith Henry of the
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, reports two cases where young patients
developed high blood cholesterol and severe coronary artery disease after taking
HIV protease inhibitors (The Lancet, vol 351, p 1328). In a subsequent
incident, a 26-year-old man with no history of heart disease had a massive heart
attack within four weeks of starting treatment. At least one-third of Henry鈥檚
patients on protease inhibitors have raised blood cholesterol.
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