The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) contains genetic
information in the form of RNA. When HIV infects a human T cell,
it must convert this RNA to DNA. It does so by using an enzyme
called reverse transcriptase. Reverse transcriptase inhibitors
interfere with this process. There are two major categories of
reverse transcriptase inhibitors: nucleoside/nucleotide reverse
transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) non-nucleoside reverse
transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) Reverse transcriptase
inhibitors include: - Combivir (lamivudine and zidovudine) -
Emtriva (emtricitabine) - Epivir (lamivudine) - Epzicom
(abacavir and lamivudine) - Hivid (zalcitabine) - Rescriptor
(delaviridine) - Retrovir (AZT, zidovudine) - Trizivir
(abacavir-lamivudine-zidovudine) - Truvada (emtricitabine-
tenofovir) - Videx (didanosine) - Viramune (nevirapine) - Viread
(tenofovir) - Zerit (stavudine) - Ziagen (abacavir) The reverse
transcriptase inhibitors lamivudine and zidovudine can cause
damage to the mitochondria, the energy-producing subunits