Drug Database: Sulfadiazine

What is sulfadiazine?

Sulfadiazine is an antibacterial prescription medicine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the prevention and treatment of certain types of bacterial infections, including the treatment of chancroid, Toxoplasma gondii encephalitis, urinary tract infections, and other infections.

Toxoplasma gondii encephalitis can be an opportunistic infection (OI) of HIV. An OI is an infection that occurs more frequently or is more severe in people with weakened immune systems—such as people with HIV—than in people with healthy immune systems. To learn more about OIs, read the HIVinfo What is an Opportunistic Infection? fact sheet.

How is sulfadiazine used in people with HIV?

The Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Opportunistic Infections in Adults and Adolescents with HIV and the Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Opportunistic Infections in Children with and Exposed to HIV include recommendations on the use of sulfadiazine to:

Treat:

• Toxoplasma gondii encephalitis
• Cystoisosporiasis (also called isosporiasis)

Prevent:

• Toxoplasma gondii encephalitis from recurring

The recommended uses may not always be consistent with FDA-approved uses of sulfadiazine. See the Adult and Pediatric Guidelines for complete information on recommended uses of sulfadiazine in adults and children with HIV. Sulfadiazine may have other recommended uses not listed above.

What should I tell my health care provider before taking sulfadiazine?

Before taking sulfadiazine, tell your health care provider:

• If you are allergic to sulfadiazine, sulfonamides (sulfa medicines), or any other medicines.
• About any medical conditions you have or have had, including the following:
  • kidney or liver problems
  • asthma
  • severe allergies
  • blood disorders, including glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6PD) deficiency
• About anything that could affect your ability to take medicines, such as difficulty swallowing or remembering to take pills.
• If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. Talk to your health care provider about the risks and benefits of taking sulfadiazine during pregnancy. The Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Opportunistic Infections in Adults and Adolescents with HIV may include other recommendations on the use of sulfadiazine during pregnancy. Please refer to these guidelines for additional information.
• If you are breast/chestfeeding or plan to breast/chestfeed. For people with HIV in the United States, the Guideline recommends speaking with your health care provider to discuss options for feeding your baby. People with suppressed viral load have a less than 1% chance of transmitting HIV to their baby via their own milk.
• About other prescription and nonprescription medicines, vitamins, nutritional supplements, and herbal products you are taking or plan to take. Sulfadiazine may affect the way other medicines or products work, and other medicines or products may affect how sulfadiazine works. Ask your health care provider if there are interactions between sulfadiazine and the other medicines you take.

Ask your health care provider about possible side effects from sulfadiazine. Your health care provider will tell you what to do if you have side effects.

How should I take sulfadiazine?

Take sulfadiazine according to your health care provider’s instructions. Your health care provider will tell you how much sulfadiazine to take and when to take it. Before you start sulfadiazine and each time you get a refill, read any printed information that comes with your medicine.

How should sulfadiazine be stored?

• Store sulfadiazine tablets at room temperature, 68°F to 77°F (20°C to 25°C). Protect sulfadiazine tablets from light.
• Keep sulfadiazine in the container that it came in and keep the container tightly closed.
• Do not use sulfadiazine if the original seal over the container opening is broken or missing.
• Throw away sulfadiazine that is no longer needed or expired (out of date). Follow FDA guidelines on how to safely dispose of unused medicine.
• Keep sulfadiazine and all medicines out of reach of children.

Where can I find more information about sulfadiazine?

• Recommendations on the HIV-related uses of sulfadiazine, from the Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Opportunistic Infections in Adults and Adolescents with HIV and the Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Opportunistic Infections in Children with and Exposed to HIV.
• This Patient Version drug summary is based on the following FDA label(s): Tablet.
• The American Hospital Formulary Service (AHFS) Patient Medication Information for sulfadiazine available from MedlinePlus.
• Sulfadiazine-related research studies, from ClinicalTrials.gov. (The ClinicalTrials.gov search can be modified so that you can get results that better match your interests. To learn more about the ClinicalTrials.gov search features, please see How to Search.)