Why Do People With HIV Take Filgrastim?
Filgrastim does not treat HIV disease. It is used to treat a shortage of neutrophils. This condition is called neutropenia. If you don’t have enough neutrophils, you have a higher risk of getting a bacterial infection. With severe neutropenia, even if you have a bacterial infection, your body might not react in the normal way. For example, you might not get redness and swelling at the site of an infection. Neutrophils normally account for 55% to 70% of white blood cells. Neutrophils are also called polymorphonuclear cells. On a lab report they may be called “polys.” The number of neutrophils is counted as part of a “complete blood count.” See Fact Sheet 121 for more information on these laboratory tests. Advanced HIV disease can cause neutropenia. It can be fairly common in HIV patients using medications that can damage the bone marrow, such as: • ganciclovir, a drug used to treat cytomegalovirus (see Fact Sheet 504) • the antiretroviral drug AZT (Retrovir, see Fact Sheet 411) • the an
