A Multi-Center Clinical Trial to Evaluate Azidothymidine (AZT) in the Treatment of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Infection in Patients with AIDS Post First Episode PCP

To examine the dose of zidovudine (AZT) that was used in the first placebo-controlled study of AZT in AIDS patients as well as a lower dose of AZT in order to determine if the lower dose results in less harmful side effects while still being effective. Previous studies have shown the effectiveness of AZT in AIDS therapy. AZT has been effective in test tube studies at varying doses. There is a need to see if lower doses result in effective therapy with less harmful side effects.

Previous studies have shown the effectiveness of AZT in AIDS therapy. AZT has been effective in test tube studies at varying doses. There is a need to see if lower doses result in effective therapy with less harmful side effects.

Patients are assigned at random to one of two treatment programs: (1) 1 dose of AZT given orally (PO) for 6 doses per day; (2) 2 doses of AZT PO for 4 weeks followed by 1 dose PO for the remainder of the trial.