Infliximab Injection

Brand name(s): Remicade®
Other name(s): anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha; anti-TNFa; cA2

Infliximab may decrease your ability to fight infection and increase the risk that you will get a serious or life threatening infection. Stay away from people who are sick and wash your hands often while you are taking this medication. Tell your doctor if you have any type of infection now, including infections that come and go (such as cold sores) and chronic infections that do not go away, or if you often get any type of infection such as bladder infections. Also tell your doctor if you have or have ever had any disease that affects your immune system, such as cancer, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), or severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome (SCID). Infliximab increases the risk that you will get some types of infections that are most common in certain parts of the United States and the world, so tell your doctor all the places you previously lived and all the places you recently visited or plan to visit while using infliximab. Tell your doctor if you are taking medications that suppress the immune system such as azathioprine (Imuran), cancer chemotherapy medications, cyclosporine (Neoral, Sandimmune), oral corticosteroids; methotrexate (Rheumatrex), sirolimus (Rapamune), and tacrolimus (Prograf). If you experience any of the following symptoms during or shortly after your treatment with infliximab, call your doctor immediately: sore throat, cough, fever, chills, flu-like symptoms, extreme tiredness, night sweats, weight loss, and other signs of infection.You may already be infected with tuberculosis (TB, a type of lung infection) but not have any symptoms of the disease. In this case, infliximab may increase the risk that your infection will become more serious and you will develop symptoms. Your doctor will perform a skin test to see if you have an inactive TB infection. If necessary, your doctor will give you medication to treat this infection before you start using infliximab. Tell your doctor if you have or have ever had TB, or if you have been around someone who has TB.Keep all appointments with your doctor. Your doctor will monitor your health carefully to be sure you do not develop a serious infection.Talk to your doctor about the risk of taking infliximab.

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