Arguments against the chemoprophylactic use of zidovudine following occupational exposure to the human immunodeficiency virus.

Following the paradigm of the hospitals of the National Institutes of Health and the University of California at San Francisco, many medical facilities have instituted a policy of administering zidovudine to health care workers after exposure to blood potentially contaminated with the human immunodeficiency virus. There is no clinical evidence proving the efficacy of such chemoprophylaxis. Toxic effects associated with zidovudine are usual and at times severe. The institutional administration of zidovudine to anyone other than individuals infected with the human immunodeficiency virus should be discontinued except under the auspices of a randomized, placebo-controlled trial.